Fitness guru Richard Simmons dies at 76, just one day after his 76th birthday

Fitness guru Richard Simmons dies at 76, just one day after his 76th birthday

Legendary fitness guru Richard Simmons has died, ABC News reports. The cause of death has not been revealed.
According to TMZ, police responded to a call from Simmons’ housekeeper on Saturday morning. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected.

Shortly before 11 in the morning. ET on Saturday, July 13, the professional fitness trainer shared a post on several of his social media pages, including Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), featuring a photo of himself in costume. His caption read: “Hello beautiful! Please don’t ruin my show.”

Simmons grateful for fans’ heartfelt messages

A day earlier, on his 76th birthday, Simmons shared a heartfelt message about the support he received from his fans, writing that he had “never received so many messages about my birthday in my life.”
“I’m sitting here writing emails. Have a beautiful Rest on Friday,” he wrote on July 12 in one of his last posts.

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Suspected cause of death of Richard Simmons

Richard Simmons’s death came after he gave a rare interview to People, in which he revealed that he would celebrate his birthday by blowing out a candle or two, but that “the candle will probably be in a zucchini.” “You know, I’m a vegetarian.”

He also told the outlet how he felt before his special day.
“I feel good! I’m grateful to be here, to be alive another day. I’ll spend my birthday doing what I do every day: helping people.”

That was the first interview the fitness guru did in a long time, as he has been out of the public eye for years.

The Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department told TMZ they showed up at his home after receiving a call around 10 a.m.

LAPD said the call came in “for a suspected fatal cardiac arrest” and that Simmons was pronounced dead at the scene.

Rise of Richard Simmons

Simmons used his energetic and motivational demeanour to encourage people to lose weight. His high energy level always appeared in his training videos, and his signature clothing was candy-striped Dolphin shorts and tank tops decorated with Swarovski crystals.

Simmons interacted on a personal level with people who used his products. This began by personally responding to fan letters he received as a member of the General Hospital cast. Starting in 2008, he responded to emails and letters and made hundreds of phone calls weekly to those seeking his help.

Simmons rose to fame in the 1970s after opening a series of gyms in Los Angeles. His popularity led to a pair of television appearances (Slim Cookin and the Emmy-winning Richard Simmons Show), as well as a series of self-hosted fitness tapes published throughout the 1980s, all of which made him a certified pop culture icon.

He appeared as himself on dozens of television shows, including:

• All My Children,
• Amazing Stories,
• Arrested Development,
• CHiPs, 
• Evening Shade, 
• Fame, 
• General Hospital
• The Larry Sanders Show.

He was a guest on late-night shows such as Saturday Night Live, Late Night With David Letterman and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was a panellist on game shows Family Feud, The New Hollywood Squares and Super Password.

He also provided his voice for several animated series, including

• Fish Hooks,
• Dinosaurs,
• Hercules,
• Johnny Bravo
• Rocko’s Modern Life.