Richard Simmons’ Cause of Death Still Being Investigated, Foul Play Ruled Out

2 days after Richard Simmons died at age 76, the Los Angeles Medical Examiner is investigating his cause of death, though foul play has been ruled out.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Simmons’ cause of death has been listed as “deferred,” which means more testing is needed to determine why he died, People reported on Monday .

The fitness guru, born Milton Teague Simmons, was known for his bubbly, optimistic personality, eccentric style and seemingly endless energy. He was found dead on Saturday by his housekeeper, and in a statement his publicist said, “Today the World lost an Angel.”

He had celebrated his 76th birthday on Friday, writing in a post on Facebook about the birthday traditions he grew up with. “My mom never baked our birthday cakes. She bought them from different bakeries,” Simmons said. “One year I had a birthday cake that was….welll not my style. It was a chocolate cake with cowboys and Indians fighting each other. There was green icing made to look like grass and a white Pickett fence around the whole cake. Maybe it had a message but I didn’t get it.”

In his final interview, given to People just days before he died, Simmons revealed that despite the public perception he’d become a recluse in his final years, that actually wasn’t the case.

“I know people miss me,” he said when the subject of his long public absence came up. “And you know what? I miss them, too. But I’m able to reach them through phone calls… and through emails. And I do leave the house sometimes. But I’m in disguise.”

“Jane Fonda’s studio was about three miles away from me, and I’ve always been a fan — so I dressed up one day with a brown wig, a mustache, and glasses, and a gray sweatshirt and heather-gray pants — and I went to her class,” Simmons said. “She never knew it was me. And she was an excellent teacher.”

He also revealed he was working on a Broadway show about his life with Patrick Leonard.

“I write the lyrics, and he writes the music,” Simmons said. “The whole show is about my life — from selling pralines in New Orleans at a candy store when I was a kid, to when I decided to retire. Every week, I write an audio.”

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