The eighties brought forth a whole genre of celebrity fitness icons. If you’re old enough, you can certainly recall the huge hair, bright colored leggings and matching headbands.
From Jane Fonda to Oliva Newtown John, there was a sea of A-lister celebs cranking out workout videos for their adoring fans to get fit to. But there’s one that stands out as the sole entertainer who reached the apex of fitness royalty: Richard Simmons.
The ever so bubbly and eccentric fitness personality swept the nation with his DVD series Sweating it Out to the Oldies. He became a household name with he virtually helped thousands loss those extra pounds all in the comfort of their own home.
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The Beginning of an Icon
Simmons’ weight loss journey began at an age when many of is first feel self conscious about their weight loss. During his teenage years, Richard was obese. At the time he graduated high school, he weighed 285, according to his official website. After a handful off diets and get slim quick failure, Simmons decided to tackle his weight issues head of, foster a much for healthy balance to his lifestyle. By this time, in the early 70’s, Simmons working all sorts of odd jobs like selling pralines while embarking on his weight transformation journey. He first found difficulty in his new mission as there were virtually no fitness facilities that catered to people of his size.
Thus, Slimmons was born. In 1974, he established his own Los angles based workout studio for people of all sizes, all ages, and everyone on every sect of the fitness spectrum. The inclusiveness of Slimmons ground breaking new venture of bringing fitness to the masses saw a great deal of media attention coming Simmons’ way.
“I simply couldn’t wait to tell everyone that food could be healthy AND delicious or that exercise could be fun! I worked my little striped shorts off to spread the message that you must move your body every day, that portion size matters and that while others may not always be kind to you, you must be kind to yourself,” Simmons sys in an interview with Entertainment Tonight,” I traveled the country, appeared in malls and convention halls, talk shows, news segments and made more guest appearances than I can name.”
Though of all his ventures into the realm of fitness entertainment, none could top the now iconic Sweating it Out to the Oldies home video series. In a field dominated by rigorous tone exercise and screaming host, Simmons revolutionized the home fitness by turning each workout into a celebration. With fun songs of the past like Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Simmons and his team of enthusiastic students got people up and moving through the form of a funky dance party.
His countless volumes of this series and many other fitness videos sold 20 million copies all across the world. All this success over the decades granted Simmons a net worth of $15 million.
A Missing Simmons
In the mid 2010’s, after spending years in the spotlight, Simmons seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth. Out of the blue, there was a sudden radio silence from Simmons to the public and anyone who was close with him.
Suspicions first began when he was absent for one of the classes he taught at Slimmons in February of 2014, according to the Washington Post. Friends and family member soon lost contact with him and his whereabouts were unknown. This sparked the creation of the hit podcast, Missing Richard Simmons. Created by one of Simmons’ students, Dan Taberski, the podcast delved into the life of Simmons as Taberski got contacted close friends of Simmons to discover what happened to him.
A post shared by Richard Simmons (@theweightsaint)
This podcast, which mustered up thousands of people to become detectives in the rescuing of their favorite 80’s fitness guru, was received quite well by many. But it’s ending came to a rather anti-climactic finish when it was reveled that Simmons wasn’t actually missing – just living a more private life. There was a rumor that he’d been held captive by one of his housekeeper. Though Simmons went to the Today Show to quickly debunk it.
The Star Now
Simmons now lives life in the solitude of his Hollywood Hills landmark home. This $6 million colonial style estate houses four bedrooms and five bathrooms with it’s 4,119 square feet. Built in 1937, the home comes with a built in black bottom pool.
A post shared by Richard Simmons (@theweightsaint)
Recently, Simmons celebrated the release of his hit series Sweating to the Oldies to the streaming service VIZIO SmartCast.
“I am very excited that my groundbreaking fitness series of Sweating to the Oldies still is so relevant and popular and I hope many new fans will discover these timeless classics,” the fitness legend tells People.
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Sources: Richard Simmons official website ,Entertainment Tonight, Washington Post, Mary Cummins Real Estate,
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