NEW YORK.- Richard Simmons, the hyperactive fitness-focused television enthusiast who built a mini-empire with his trademark tank tops and shorts urging overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday. He turned 76 on Friday.
The Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments said they responded to a Los Angeles home where a man was pronounced dead of natural causes. Neither department provided a name, but The Associated Press shared the address and age with Simmons through public records.
TMZ was the first outlet to report his death, which has also been reported by other outlets citing anonymous representatives for Simmons.
Simmons, who had disclosed a skin diagnosis in March 2024, had recently disappeared from the public eye, sparking speculation about her health and well-being.
Simmons, who was overweight as a teenager, shared his weight-loss tips as host of the Emmy-winning daytime Richard Simmons Show, best-selling author of the Deal-A-Meal diet plan, and a host of fitness studios. He went on to star in a number of fitness videos, including the hit series Sweatin to the Oldies.
My eating plan and my diet are just two words: Common sense. With a touch of good humor, she told The Associated Press in 1982. I want to help people and make the world a healthier, happier place.
Simmons turned to mass communication to spread his message, even as he eventually became the butt of jokes for his outlandish outfits and style. He was a guest on television shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. But David Letterman would make fun of him and Howard Stern would make fun of him until he cried. He was mocked in Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl on Broadway in 1993, and Eddie Murphy wore white makeup and dressed like him in The Nutty Professor, shouting “I’m a Pony!”
Asked if he thought he could motivate people by being silly, Simmons replied: I think there’s a time to be serious and a time to be silly. It’s knowing when to do it. I try to have a good mix. Being silly cures depression. It catches people off guard and makes them think. But in between that silliness there’s a lot of seriousness that makes sense. It’s a different kind of training.
Simmons’ daytime show was seen on 200 television stations in the United States, as well as Australia, New ZealandFilipinas, Japan y SudamricaHer first book, Never Say Diet, was a huge bestseller.
He was known for counseling severely obese people, including Rosalie Bradford, the record-holder for being the world’s fattest woman, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons with helping him lose 700 pounds. Simmons included real people – fat, bald or untelegenic – in his workout videos to make fitness goals seem achievable.
Throughout his career, Simmons was a reliable critic of fad diets, always emphasizing healthy eating and exercise plans.
There will always be something strange about eating four grapes before bed, or drinking a special tea, or buying this little bean from El Salvador, she told the AP in 2005, when the Atkins diet craze was sweeping the country. If you watch your portions, have a good attitude and exercise every day, you will live longer, feel better and look fantastic.
Simmons was a New Orleans native, a chubby kid named Milton by his parents. (He changed his name to Richard around age 10 to improve his self-image.) He told people he overate because he thought his parents liked his older brother better.
FUENTE: AP