Richard Simmons, fitness guru who mixed laughs and sweat, dies at 76 – National

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 chubby to train and eat higher, died Saturday. He was 76.

Los Angeles police and hearth departments say they responded to a Los Angeles home the place a person was declared lifeless from pure causes. Neither supplied a reputation, however The Related Press matched the handle and age to Simmons via public information.

TMZ was the primary to report his demise. It has additionally been reported by different shops citing unnamed Simmons representatives.

Simmons, who revealed a pores and skin analysis in March 2024, had these days dropped out of sight, sparking hypothesis about his well being and well-being.

Simmons was a former 268-pound teen who shared his hard-won weight-loss suggestions as host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Present,” writer of best-selling books and the weight-reduction plan plan Deal-A-Meal, in addition to opening train studios and starring in tens of millions of train movies, together with the profitable “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” line.

“My meals plan and weight-reduction plan are simply two phrases — frequent sense. With a touch of fine humour,” he instructed The Related Press in 1982. “I wish to assist folks and make the world a more healthy, pleased place.”

Simmons embraced mass communication to get his message out, whilst he finally turned the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant aptitude. He was a visitor on TV reveals 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 Lady” 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 folks by playing around, Simmons answered, “I believe there’s a time to be critical and a time to be foolish. It’s understanding when to do it. I attempt to have a pleasant mixture. Fooling around cures melancholy. It catches folks off guard and makes them assume. However in between that silliness is a variety of seriousness that is smart. It’s a unique form of coaching.”

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

He was identified 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 folks — chubby, balding or non-telegenic — in his train movies to make the health targets appear reachable.

All through his profession, Simmons was a dependable critic of fad diets, all the time emphasizing wholesome consuming and train plans. “There’ll all the time 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 instructed the AP in 2005 because the Atkins weight-reduction plan craze swept the nation. “When you watch your parts and you’ve got a superb perspective and you’re employed out on daily basis 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 folks he ate to extra as a result of he believed his mother and father appreciated his older brother extra. He was teased by schoolmates and ballooned to virtually 200 kilos.

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

Simmons went to Italy as a international change scholar and ended up doing peanut butter commercials and bacchanalian consuming scenes for director Federico Fellini in his movie “Fellini Satyricon.” He instructed 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 automobile and located a word. It mentioned, ‘Pricey Richard, you’re very humorous, however fats folks die younger. Please don’t die.” He was so shocked that he went on the hunger weight-reduction plan that left him skinny however very in poor health.

After the crash weight-reduction plan he gained again 65 kilos. Finally, he was in a position to devise a wise plan to take off the kilos and maintain them off. “I went into the enterprise as a result of I couldn’t discover something I appreciated,” he mentioned.

When Simmons hadn’t been seen in public for a number of years, some information shops speculated that he was being held hostage in his personal home. In phone interviews with “Leisure Tonight” and the “As we speak” present, Simmons refuted the claims and instructed his followers he was having fun with the time by himself. Filmmaker-writer Dan Taberski, one in all 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 “dwelling the life he has chosen.”

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