Richard Simmons, legendary health persona, dies at 76

Health guru Richard Simmons has died, two legislation enforcement sources confirmed to NBC Information.

Simmons was discovered unresponsive Saturday at his dwelling within the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, someday after his 76th birthday, the legislation enforcement sources stated. The precise reason behind his loss of life is pending.

Simmons’ brother, Lenny Simmons, confirmed the loss of life in a press release.

“I don’t need individuals to be unhappy about my brother,” Lenny Simmons stated. “I would like them to recollect him for the real pleasure and love he dropped at individuals’s lives.”

“We’re in shock,” Lenny Simmons added. “Please respect the household at this tough time.”

Tom Estey, Simmons’ longtime publicist, stated in a press release, “Right now the World misplaced an Angel.”

On Friday, Simmons shared a message on social media thanking followers for the birthday needs.

“Thanks…I by no means received so many messages about my birthday in my life!” Simmons wrote. “I’m sitting right here writing emails. Have a most stunning remainder of your Friday.”

He signed the publish “Love, Richard.”

Simmons, the health coach identified for his eccentric persona and “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” exercise movies, rose to fame within the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties after opening gyms and releasing dozens of health movies.

His website describes him as “one of many world’s most revered and iconic health personalities” who has been an “teacher and motivator for over 40 years.”

“By delivering a severe message along with his trademark humor, he has helped thousands and thousands of obese women and men lose greater than 3,000,000 kilos by adopting smart, balanced consuming applications and train regimes which might be energetic, enjoyable and motivating,” a biography for Simmons on his web site reads.

Simmons grew up in New Orleans and struggled along with his weight from a younger age, weighing practically 200 kilos when he was 15. By the point he graduated from highschool, he was 268 kilos, in accordance with his web site.

He received a scholarship to check artwork in Florence, Italy, as a younger man and, whereas consuming outdoor, was approached by an agent who employed him to mannequin for TV commercials. He ended up in additional than 130 commercials, taking part in a variety of elements, like a dancing meatball and a pat of margarine, and showing in Fruit of the Loom underwear and with Dannon yogurt.

Whereas at a grocery store someday, Simmons found a notice caught to the windshield of his Fiat that learn “Fats individuals die younger. Please do not die.”

It prompted him to attempt something potential to shed pounds, together with fasting, capsules, train and injections. He dropped from 268 kilos to 156 kilos, however after a number of hair transplants and cosmetic surgery operations, he realized the significance of losing a few pounds and getting wholesome step by step, main him to check well being and diet.

From there, he took his abilities to the West Coast in 1973, shifting to Los Angeles, the place he was unable to discover a gymnasium that “wasn’t for individuals who have been already in form,” in accordance with his web site. So, Simmons took it upon himself to create one, and SLIMMONS in Beverly Hills was opened in 1974.

Whereas working as a maître d’ in Los Angeles, Simmons seen what he believed was self-destructive consuming behaviors of these he was serving, which led him to open Ruffage in 1975, a wholesome restaurant with a salad bar, and the Anatomy Asylum, an adjoining train studio.

His concern for his patrons and his flamboyant persona attracted the likes of Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. He additionally earned the eye of tv producers who inspired him to share his message and have become a daily on TV discuss reveals.

It was at SLIMMONS the place he taught lessons and hosted seminars till 2013, his web site stated. His success additionally led to his personal nationally syndicated sequence, “The Richard Simmons Present,” which ran for 4 years and earned a number of Emmy awards.

Simmons additionally launched 65 health movies, which bought over 20 million copies, and wrote 9 books and three cookbooks, in accordance with his web site.

Simmons had been one thing of a recluse since 2014, and in January, he spoke out in opposition to an upcoming biopic being made about his life starring actor and comic Pauly Shore, which Simmons stated he never permitted. 

“I’ve by no means given my permission for his film. So don’t imagine the whole lot you learn,” he wrote on Facebook on the time. “I now not have a supervisor, and I now not have a publicist. I simply attempt to dwell a quiet life and be peaceable. Thanks for all of your love and help.”

Since that publish, Simmons has been lively on social media, typically writing motivational messages and sharing tales about moments and other people in his life. The posts have ranged in subject from his childhood in New Orleans to racial segregation to health and his household.

He died just months after he posted a cryptic social media message, writing “I’m ….dying.” He later walked it again, however the subsequent day, he shared that he had been identified with pores and skin most cancers.

Within the March 18 social media publish, he wrote that he had “information” to share.

“Please don’t be unhappy. I’m ….dying. Oh I can see your faces now. The reality is all of us are dying. On daily basis we dwell we’re getting nearer to our loss of life,” Simmons wrote.

“Why am I telling you this? As a result of I would like you to get pleasure from your life to the fullest each single day,” he continued within the publish. “Stand up within the morning and have a look at the sky… depend your blessings and revel in.”

The remainder of the publish included options about find out how to lead a wholesome way of life and reminders to hug those you’re keen on.

Later that day, he posted one other replace clarifying he was not dying.

“Sorry lots of you might have gotten upset about my message as we speak. Even the press has gotten in contact with me. I’m not dying,” he wrote. “It was a message about saying how we should always embrace day-after-day that now we have.”

The subsequent day, he shared that he had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a kind of pores and skin most cancers.

The day after that, he shared in one other social media publish that the difficulty had been resolved after three procedures with a “most cancers physician,” Dr. Ralph A. Massey.

It was not instantly clear whether or not Simmons’ current pores and skin most cancers analysis had something to do along with his loss of life.