Fitness guru Richard Simmons has died at 76

NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Simmons, tv’s hyperactive court docket jester of bodily health who constructed a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and brief shorts by urging the obese to train and eat higher, died Saturday. He turned 76 on Friday.

Simmons died at his dwelling in Los Angeles, his publicist Tom Estey stated in an e mail to The Related Press. He gave no additional particulars.

Los Angeles police and hearth departments say they responded to a home — whose tackle the AP has matched with Simmons by way of public information — the place a person was declared lifeless from pure causes.

Simmons, who had revealed a pores and skin analysis in March 2024, had currently dropped out of sight, sparking speculating about his well being and well-being. His loss of life was first reported by TMZ.

Simmons was a former 268-pound teen who turned a grasp of many media types, sharing his hard-won weight-loss suggestions as host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Present” and creator of best-selling books and the weight loss program plan Deal-A-Meal. He additionally opened train studios and starred train movies, together with the wildly profitable “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” line, which turned a cultural phenomenon.

“My meals plan and weight loss program are simply two phrases — widespread sense. With a touch of fine humor,” he advised The Related Press in 1982. “I wish to assist individuals and make the world a more healthy, completely happy place.”

Simmons embraced mass communication to get his message out, at the same time as he finally turned the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant aptitude. He was a sought-after visitor on TV exhibits led by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. However David Letterman would prank him and Howard Stern would tease him till he cried. He was mocked in Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Woman” on Broadway in 1993, and Eddie Murphy placed on white make-up and dressed like him in “The Nutty Professor,” screaming “I’m a pony!”

Requested if he thought he might inspire individuals by playing around, Simmons answered, “I feel there’s a time to be severe and a time to be foolish. It’s realizing when to do it. I attempt to have a pleasant mixture. Playing around cures melancholy. It catches individuals off guard and makes them assume. However in between that silliness is plenty of seriousness that is smart. It’s a unique sort of coaching.”

Simmons’ daytime present was seen on 200 stations in America, in addition to in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and South America. His first ebook, “By no means Say Weight loss program,” was a smash best-seller.

He was recognized to counsel the severely overweight, together with Rosalie Bradford, who held information for being the world’s heaviest girl, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons for serving to him lose 700 kilos. Simmons put actual individuals — chubby, balding or non-telegenic — in his train movies to make the health objectives appear reachable.

All through his profession, Simmons was a dependable critic of fad diets, at all times emphasizing wholesome consuming and train plans. “There’ll at all times be some bizarre factor about consuming 4 grapes earlier than you go to mattress, or consuming a particular tea, or shopping for this little bean from El Salvador,” he advised the AP in 2005 because the Atkins weight loss program craze swept the nation. “Should you watch your parts and you’ve got an excellent angle and you’re employed out day by day you’ll reside longer, really feel higher and look terrific.”

Simmons was a local of New Orleans, a chubby boy named Milton by his mother and father. (He renamed himself “Richard” across the age of 10 to enhance his self-image). He would inform individuals he ate to extra as a result of he believed his mother and father preferred his older brother extra. He was teased by schoolmates and ballooned to nearly 200 kilos.

Simmons advised the AP his mom watched train guru Jack LaLanne’s TV present religiously when he was rising up, however he wasn’t loopy concerning the health fanatic. “I hated him,” Simmons stated. “I wasn’t prepared for his message as a result of he was match and he was wholesome and he had such a constructive angle, and I used to be none of these issues.”

Simmons went to Italy as a overseas trade pupil and ended up doing peanut butter commercials and bacchanalian consuming scenes for director Federico Fellini in his movie “Fellini Satyricon.” He advised the AP: “I used to be fats, had curly hair. The Italians thought I used to be hysterical. I used to be the lifetime of the occasion.”

His life modified after getting an nameless letter. “One darkish, wet day I went to my automotive and located a be aware. It stated, ‘Pricey Richard, you’re very humorous, however fats individuals die younger. Please don’t die.” He was so shocked that he went on the hunger weight loss program that left him skinny however very in poor health.

After the crash weight loss program he gained again 65 kilos. Ultimately, he was capable of devise a wise plan to take off the kilos and hold them off. “I went into the enterprise as a result of I couldn’t discover something I preferred,” he stated.

When Simmons hadn’t been seen in public for a number of years, some information retailers speculated that he was being held hostage in his personal home. In phone interviews with “Leisure Tonight” and the “In the present day” present, Simmons refuted the claims and advised his followers he was having fun with the time by himself. Filmmaker-writer Dan Taberski, one among his common college students, launched a podcast in 2017 referred to as “Lacking Richard Simmons.”

In 2022, Simmons broke his six-year silence, along with his spokesperson telling the New York Publish that the beloved health icon was “residing the life he has chosen.”

One of many on-line tributes after Simmons’ passing was from actor-comedian Pauly Shore, who beforehand developed an unauthorized biopic of Simmons, which Simmons objected to on the time.

“I simply bought phrase like everybody else that the attractive Richard Simmons has handed,” he started in an Instagram publish. “I hope you’re at peace and twinkling up within the heavens,” including “You’re one among a sort, Richard. An incredible life. An incredible story.”

___ Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Related Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.