By Rich McKay
Fitness guru Richard Simmons has died at age 76, multiple media outlets reported, including ABC News and TMZ.
The reports said his housekeeper found him unresponsive on Saturday morning and Los Angeles police were called. TMZ reported that police were treating it as a natural death.
Los Angeles police said it could not confirm Simmons’ death.
Born Milton Teagle “Richard” Simmons, the flamboyant fitness instructor became a household name and pioneered gyms as safe places for people who weren’t already in perfect shape. He revealed in a series of social media posts this year that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer.
In a post on X in March he declared, “I have some news to tell you. Please don’t be sad. I am …dying. Oh I can see your faces now.” There was no other context for the statement and he later apologized for the media stir his comments made. Through his representative he said that the sole purpose of the post was meant to be inspirational.
Simmons, who grew up in the French quarter of New Orleans before settling in California, weighed 268 pounds (121.56 kg) when he graduated from high school, his website said.
His own story of struggling with weight loss, where he tried everything from fad diets to laxatives before settling on exercise and better lifestyle choices, inspired millions to do the same.
