Fitness personality Richard Simmons has died at the age of 76 just a few months after telling fans on social media he recently had a serious health scare.
American fitness personality Richard Simmons has died days after celebrating his 76 birthday.
Authorities say early investigation suggests he died of natural causes.
Mr Simmons rose to fame in the 1970s for releasing high-energy workout tapes.
He revealed in March he was diagnosed with skin cancer.
According to TMZ, emergency workers were called to the 76-year-old’s home after Simmons was discovered unresponsive by his housekeeper on Saturday morning.
Simmons was hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s after launching a series of gyms, fitness tapes and workout routines.
The beloved personality was pronounced dead at the scene.
No foul play was suspected, TMZ added.
According to TMZ, emergency workers were called to his home after Simmons was discovered unresponsive by his housekeeper on Saturday morning. Picture: Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images
Simmons’s death comes just one day after he celebrated his 76th birthday on July 12, having told People magazine in a rare interview published on the day before his death he would celebrate by blowing out a candle.
“But the candle will probably be on a zucchini,” Simmons said.
“You know, I’m a vegetarian.”
Simmons told People magazine he felt good and was “grateful” he was still here and “alive for another day”.
“I’ll spend my birthday doing what I do every day, which is to help people,” he said.
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It came just months after Simmons shared with his fans he had a health scare in March, having undergone a painful procedure for skin cancer on his face.
The health scare made Simmons urge his fans to take care of their own health.
“I know some of you reading this have had cancer or have known someone in your life who has had cancer. Promise me you will see your doctor and get a complete check up,” Simmons told his followers in a social media post.
“Tell the ones that you love that you love them. Hug those people and children who you really care for.
“A big hug really goes a long way.”
Simmons’s death comes just one day after he celebrated his 76th birthday on July 12. Picture: Michael Buckner/Getty Images
In March, Simmons made another post and told social media “I am dying”.
“The truth is we all are dying. Every day we live we are getting closer to our death,” Simmons wrote, later clarifying he wanted to tell people to embrace life and was not about to die.
Simmons stepped away from the spotlight in 2014 and closed his famous Beverly Hills fitness studio Slimmons two years later.
A year later, in 2017, the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a welfare check due to his abrupt absence, to which detectives said the health guru was “perfectly fine”.
In 2022, Simmons’s representative told The Post he was “happy healthy and living the life he has chosen to live”.