Richard Simmons shared first birthday snap in vulnerable post about growing up poor day before death

Fitness legend Richard Simmons celebrated his 76th birthday just a day before his tragic death.

The exercise guru took to social media to thank his followers for the outpouring of affection as he marked turning another year old. He shared candid stories about his upbringing on Twitter /X before posting a sweet black-and-white image from his first birthday party.

The photo formed part of a 17-tweet thread, which Richard started by explaining where the celebration of birthdays came from, claiming the idea of giving gifts was a "good idea". He also shared personal information, revealing his parents' birthdays and star signs.

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He then went on: "Enclosed in this message is a picture of me turning one. My mom never baked our birthday cakes. She bought them from different bakeries. 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."

It was then he opened up about how his family was poor during his childhood, explaining how he would create cards for people which were "quite extravagant".

Further explaining his upbringing, Richard reminisced further about how he and his brother would "always received clothes for our birthday," before he explained how things changed as he grew more successful in his career. He revealed he would be personal gifts for his parents, while also saying "each month I sent them a check so they could buy anything they wanted".

The star ended his insight with the throwback birthday image and a message reading: "I don’t know when your birthday is but I wish you a happy and healthy birthday!" The photo showed a one-year-old Richard gripping a table with a decorated cake on. The youngster, wearing dungarees and white socks was stood beside a guarded fire place.