Richard Simmons has died, TMZ confirms. The celebrated fitness and weight loss champion was 76.
According to the site, his housekeeper discovered his remains on Saturday morning, and first responders declared him dead at the scene, with no foul play respected.
Earlier in 2024, Simmons was the subject of celebrity death rumors in March, in which he responded on Facebook, “Sorry many of you have gotten upset about my message today. Even the press has gotten in touch with me. I am not dying.”
The Facebook post that started the rumors featured the aerobics star writing, “I have some news to tell you. Please don’t be sad. I am ….dying. Oh I can see your faces now. The truth is we all are dying. Every day we live we are getting closer to our death.”
Simmons, who was known for his boisterous personality and fashions and for championing health with his on-air guests, died just a day after his 76th birthday (July 12). On his birthday, he’d written on social media, “Thank you…I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life! I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday. Love, Richard.”
Thank you…I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life! I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday.
Love,
Richard— Richard Simmons (@TheWeightSaint) July 12, 2024
CBS / Courtesy Everett Collection
Simmons rose to fame for his decades-long experience promoting aerobics and fitness through televised exercise routines in the early ’80s with his Emmy-nominated show The Richard Simmons Show.
He was a champion of offering fitness opportunities to those patrons who may not be already fit, opening a gym in 1974 in Beverly Hills, California, to cater to beginners. The studio, called Slimmons, closed in 2016.
The celebrity was mostly absent from public view after 2014, but, after rumors emerged that he was being mistreated by someone close to him, he appeared on The Today Show (via audio interview) in 2016. He also responded to rumors about his health in 2022, saying he was “happy, healthy, and living the life he has chosen to live.”