Less than 24 hours after his seventy-sixth birthday, Richard Simmons, the beloved weight loss guru, has passed away. TMZ was the first to report the news, with them noting that authorities responded to a call from Simmons’s housekeeper this morning and that he was pronounced dead on the scene. No cause of death has been reported, but according to a report obtained by the site, foul play isn’t suspected, and his death is being treated as natural.

Simmons publicly posted to his social media just hours earlier, thanking fans for all of their birthday messages. Simmons hadn’t been seen in public for about a decade, largely retreating from public life in 2014. Wild rumours ran rampant about his health and safety, but Simmons clapped back at any such rumours. Simmons recently voiced his displeasure over a planned biopic that’s to star Pauly Shore. 

Simmons rose to fame in the 1980s as the energetic host of a series of best-selling workout videos called Sweatin’ to the Oldies. Along with Jane Fonda, he was seen as one of the pioneers of aerobics on video. The home video revolution allowed him to reach millions of people looking to get in shape, and his videos were among the best-selling workout tapes of the decade. 

Throughout his career, Simmons remained a tireless advocate of physical fitness and was a frequent guest on Oprah and the Rosie O’Donnell Show. His flamboyant personality was often satirized, but Simmons always had a good sense of humour and often poked fun at himself on The Howard Stern Show and Late Night with David Letterman. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Simmons made all of his old workout videos free to view on YouTube to encourage people to stay in good shape even if they were stuck at home.

Indeed, while people often made fun of him, Simmons really did make a lot of people’s lives better, with him often sharing an account of how he himself lost 123 pounds as a young man, which he managed to keep off. As for myself, my parents owned one of his tapes, and I worked out to it all the time as a kid, so I have a lot of affection for him. From all of us here at JoBlo – may he rest in peace. 

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