Richard Simmons was a TV physical fitness instructor who led the 1980s trend of aerobics classes with such popular exercise videos as “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”
Richard Simmons’s Ebroa
Richard Simmons built a fitness brand on flamboyant joy, always encouraging his devotees to seek a healthier life. Dressed in Swarovski crystal-studded tank tops and extra-short shorts, he catered to a demographic that was uncomfortable working out in a traditional gym among slim and muscled 20-somethings. Simmons invited older, less-healthy consumers into his gym, Slimmons Studio, and sold them his videos to practice in their own homes, helping contribute to a 1980s fitness revolution.
Simmons took inspiration for his lifelong career of fitness instruction from a childhood spent battling obesity. Born Milton Teagle Simmons July 12, 1948, in New Orleans, Louisiana, he would later talk about the early influence of his home city on his unhealthy diet. “I was completely obsessed with food,” he told Men’s Health in 2012. “I grew up one block from the Antoine’s, around the corner from Brennan’s, three blocks from Arnold’s, two blocks from Galatoire’s.”
It was while living abroad as a young man that Simmons began his journey from ill health to fitness stardom. Studying art in Italy, he had small roles in movies including Federico Fellini’s “Satyricon,” still overweight as he began his film career. It was a nurse asking him a simple question – “Do you want to live or do you want to die?” – that convinced him to pursue a slimmer self.
At first, Simmons floundered, encountering the same problems faced by his future core clientele. Fad diets didn’t work, and heavy-duty workouts were beyond his capabilities. But back in the U.S. in the early 1970s, he settled in Los Angeles and discovered a brand-new trend that would change his life – aerobics.
Simmons quickly began saving money to open his own aerobics studio. Called Anatomy Asylum, it also featured the salad bar restaurant Ruffage, though he soon revamped the space to focus exclusively on exercise and later renamed the business Slimmons. Under any name, it was a massive success, with celebrities and regular folks alike flocking to Beverly Hills to slim down under Simmons’ cheerful tutelage.
What drew many to Slimmons was their host’s goofy positivity. Other fitness instructors were intense and serious, but Simmons offered cheesy puns with a side of relentless encouragement. It was an approach that earned him a reputation as the Clown Prince of Fitness, but he embraced the label. He talked to SB Nation in 2012 about the importance of humor: “When the king is upset, he doesn’t call for the chef. He doesn’t call for the wife. He calls for the little man in the pointed hat. I love comedy. I love having a sense of humor.”
Simmons soon became a Los Angeles celebrity, and as he began to be featured on television, his fame extended to the rest of the country. A stint on “Real People” led to celebrity game show appearances and a recurring role on “General Hospital,” and finally a turn as the host of the short-lived “The Richard Simmons Show.” He began releasing exercise videos, including the wildly popular “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” series. The popular series, still available on DVD, brought his variety of accessible fitness to homes around the country.
In addition to producing videos, Simmons also wrote several books, including healthy cookbooks, fitness tomes, and inspirational writing. He appeared frequently on “The Howard Stern Show” and “Late Night With David Letterman,” and he made commercials for products including Yoplait. Throughout his fame, his sexual orientation was frequently speculated upon, but he himself never publicly discussed it.
Simmons’ advocacy for physical fitness brought him all the way to the halls of the U.S. Congress, where he spoke in favor of the Strengthening Physical Education Act of 2007. Simmons insisted on the importance of the mandatory physical education in schools promoted by the bill, and he also stressed that physical education for young people should include plenty of noncompetitive play. He went on to advocate for the successful 2013 Every Student Succeeds Act, which included physical education as a core subject.
Simmons even talked to individual school districts about the importance of physical education, telling one Illinois district in a video statement, “I’m asking you, begging you, to reconsider the time that the children have for their recess and their P.E. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and not only does it make you feel good, it makes your brain work.”
Simmons continued teaching aerobics classes at Slimmons until 2014. In later years, he retreated entirely from public life, prompting widespread speculation about his well-being. He explained his recent absence from the public eye by noting the knee injury he had suffered and the recovery time necessary to move forward with an active life. In March 2024, Simmons announced that he had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma.
Tributes to Richard Simmons
Full Obituary: The New York Times
