Richard Simmons, fitness guru, dies at age 76

Richard Simmons, the fitness guru who devoted his life to creating folks sweat along with his “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” exercise movies, has died early Saturday morning, his consultant confirmed to CBS News. He was 76. 

Simmons died a day after his birthday. He had posted a message on his social media accounts on Friday writing “Thank you…I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life! I am sitting here writing emails.” On Saturday followers posted message after message saying they may miss him and thanking him for his positivity and encouragement. 

At 9:57 a.m. Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department responded to a radio name of a loss of life investigation within the Hollywood Hills West neighborhood, the LAPD advised CBS News. Authorities mentioned the fireplace division joined police on the 1300 block of Belfast Drive, the place Simmons’ home is positioned.

In his shimmering tank tops and brief shorts, Simmons was at all times stuffed with power and smiling. His cardio movies within the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s remodeled the house right into a gymnasium, instructing the world to get in form.

But his enthusiasm for fitness got here from a less-than-healthy starting.

“You know, I’m from New Orleans, Louisiana, we eat everything fried there, we even take leaves from outside and dip them in breadcrumbs and fry them,” he advised CBS’ “Sunday Morning” in 2010.

Born in 1948 in Louisiana, Simmons struggled along with his weight as a toddler, weighing 268 kilos when he graduated from highschool.

“Once upon a time, there was a little fat kid in New Orleans who sold pralines on the street corners to make a living for his family,” Simmons mentioned.

It was a well being scare that modified his life.

“This little guy took it seriously, and he got himself together and then he decided to be the pied piper of health,” Simmons mentioned.

And the folks adopted — for 40 years. Simmons was nonetheless instructing aerobics in his 60s from his gymnasium in Beverly Hills, full with a disco ball, file participant and glossy shirt.

“I have to stay at 135 pounds to be in these 1980 Dolfin shorts,” Simmons mentioned.

His fitness movies bought greater than 20 million copies. He performed himself on TV exhibits, commercials, even cartoons.

He grew to become a political activist for youngsters, campaigning for bodily training in faculties, combating for wholesome consuming and towards fad weight-reduction plan.

“Never say diet, say live it, you want your body to live, not die,” Simmons mentioned.

Simmons made tons of of appearances on TV speak exhibits, however in 2014, he went from seemingly being in every single place to being nowhere, disappearing from the general public eye for years. In April 2017, he posted a message on Facebook: “I’m not ‘missing,’ just a little under the weather.”

For his followers, his message remained.

“I hope that one day we can all be a little bit more intelligent on how to take care of the only thing that God gave us – that’s our body,” Simmons mentioned.

Richard Simmons helped begin a motion, on transferring.

John Blackstone

From his base in San Francisco, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone covers breaking tales all through the West. That typically means he’s on the scene of wildfires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and rumbling volcanoes. He additionally experiences on the high-tech business in Silicon Valley and on social and financial traits that ceaselessly start within the West.