Richard Simmons has died at 76 years old , according to TMZ .
Police reportedly responded to a call from his housekeeper before 10 a.m. PST on Saturday. He was pronounced dead at the scene with no foul play expected at this time. His cause of death has not yet been revealed, but police currently believe it was natural causes. TMZ updated that law enforcement sources said the late 76-year-old had a fall in his bathroom which LAPD's elite Robbery Homicide Division responded to.
A fan on X, formerly known as Twitter , wrote: "Richard Simmons preached exercise, diet and most of all kindness. He positively impacted thousands and thousands of lives. I’m one of the hundreds and hundreds of TV people who basked in his energy and readily accepted those crazy hugs. Rest well."
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As fans mourn the fitness guru, they are also haunted by the fact he was active on social media hours before his unexpected death. His most recent social media activity was on his Twitter this morning: "Hello gorgeous! Please don’t rain on my parade." A fan commented under the tweet: "Umm, this is haunting if this post was shortly before you passed. Rest in peace."
Richard celebrated his 76th birthday on Friday, July 12, and posted on Facebook in addition to Twitter to thank his fans for the birthday wishes: "Thank you...I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life. I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday. Love, Richard"
In March 2024, Richard shared that he was diagnosed with skin cancer after a troubling, cryptic post where he said he was dying. He specified he had Basel Cell Carcinoma. He offered an update the next day that the cancer was resolved with three procedures with "cancer doctor" Dr. Ralph A. Massey.
Richard was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to his website , he weighed 268 pounds when he graduated high school. He "took control of his weight" by practicing a lifestyle of balance, eating in moderation and exercising after unsuccessfully trying "bizarre diets to laxatives." He moved out to the Los Angeles in 1973 and saw how he was not able to locate a "health club that wasn’t for people who were already in shape." Richard decided to create his own and SLIMMONS, as he called it, was opened in Beverly Hills in 1974 and he rose to fame from that moment on.
He taught classes and hosted seminars at SLIMMONS until 2013 and in 2016 the Beverly Hills exercise studio closed for good. The Louisiana native made 65 fitness videos over the course of his career which sold over 20 million copies, wrote nine books and three cookbooks.
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