Richard Simmons, the colorful fitness guru who turned aerobic dancing and positive energy into decades of fame, died Saturday, law enforcement sources said. He was 76.
Simmons was found at his home, and there was no evidence of foul play, sources told The Times.
Simmons specialized in helping obese people lose weight, starting with a Los Angeles fitness studio and eventually making appearances on TV shows, including a popular stint on “General Hospital.”
In his biography, he said struggling with being overweight himself inspired him to help others.
Over the years, he hosted a variety of shows, produced fitness videos and even had a chain of fitness studios. All the while, he made regular appearances in movies and TV shows.
In recent years, Simmons had become the subject of fascination, some of it unwanted. He retreated from public view, and some worried about his health.
In 2017, the “Missing Richard Simmons” podcast revisited the speculation behind Simmons’ welfare, although he refuted many of the rumors.
Simmons’s representative, Tom Estey, recently told Entertainment Tonight that he was celebrating his 76th birthday by working on a new Broadway musical.
Simmons, who was active on social media, appeared to be in good spirits in recent days. He posted a black-and-white photograph of himself next to a cake on his birthday to mark the occasion.
“I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life!” Simmons wrote on Facebook. “I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday.”
It was a marked change of pace from earlier in the year when Simmons had posted cryptic messages ruminating over his mortality.
“I am … dying,” Simmons wrote on Facebook. “Oh I can see your faces now. The truth is we all are dying. Every day we live we are getting closer to our death. Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to enjoy your life to the fullest every single day. Get up in the morning and look at the sky … count your blessings and enjoy. “
Simmons had shared in March that he’d been diagnosed with skin cancer. He noted a “strange looking bump” underneath his right eye. He said a dermatologist found it to be basal cell carcinoma, one of the most common forms of skin cancer that can form due to long-term exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet light.