Richard Simmons: Beloved fitness guru and home exercise video star dead aged 76

Police and fire departments raced to a Los Angeles house on Saturday (13 July), where a man was declared dead from natural causes. Simmons’ publicist confirmed to the Associated Press that the fitness guru had died at home.

The death was first reported by American celebrity news site TMZ, but Simmons had been living largely outside of the public eye for some time - sometimes sparking speculation about his wellbeing. He revealed in March that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer, although it’s unclear whether that had any connection to his death.

New Orleans native Simmons had weighed some 19 stone (120kg) as a teenager, but went on to lose an enormous amount of weight, developing a sustainable food and fitness plan that worked for him. It became the cornerstone of his media empire, which saw him hosting the Emmy-winning Richard Simmons Show, and write best-selling books like Never-Say-Diet.

But perhaps his biggest claim to fame was his exercise videos, including the hugely successful ‘Sweatin’ To The Oldies’ line, which became a cultural phenomenon. “My food plan and diet are just two words - common sense. With a dash of good humour,” he told the Associated Press in 1982. “I want to help people and make the world a healthier, happy place.”

Simmons put real people, including those struggling with their weight, in his exercise videos, and was a reliable critic of fad diets, instead emphasising healthy eating and exercise plans. “There’ll always be some weird thing about eating four grapes before you go to bed, or drinking a special tea, or buying this little bean from El Salvador,” he told AP in 2005 as the Atkins diet craze swept the country. “If you watch your portions and you have a good attitude and you work out every day you’ll live longer, feel better and look terrific.”

Known for his flamboyant looks and upbeat personality, Simmons was sometimes mocked, parodied and pranked by other celebrities - but was also a regular guest on talk shows, staying true to his ideals. He was known to work with severely obese, including world record holder for world’s heaviest woman Rosalie Bradford, AP reports, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons for helping him lose 50 stone.

Simmons’ treatment as a celebrity sometimes mirrored how he had been treated as a young person. Originally named Milton by his parents, Simmons said he had been bullied as a teen, and overate regularly. He went to Italy as a foreign exchange student and ended up doing peanut butter adverts and bacchanalian eating scenes in a film by director Federico Fellini.

But life changed after receiving an anonymous letter. “One dark, rainy day I went to my car and found a note. It said, ‘Dear Richard, you’re very funny, but fat people die young. Please don’t die.’” He said he was so stunned that he went on a starvation diet that left him thin but very ill. After the crash diet, he regained four-and-a-half stone, but eventually, he was able to work out his popular diet and fitness regime.

One of the online tributes after Simmons’ death was from actor-comedian Pauly Shore, who previously created an unauthorised short films of Simmons - which the fitness guru had objected to at the time. “I just got word like everyone else that the beautiful Richard Simmons has passed,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I hope you’re at peace and twinkling up in the heavens… You’re one of a kind, Richard. An amazing life. An amazing story.”