Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76

July 13, 2024 2:02 PM

Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76 Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76 He just celebrated his birthday on Friday.
posted by robbyrobs (59 comments total)

Ah heck. Yesterday was my boss's birthday and we did little get together, including a guess who of all the other folks born on July 12. We were literally just talking about Richard Simmons. I always respect any famous person who just up and decides that they're done owing the public their lives.
.
posted by phunniemee at 2:07 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

.
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 2:07 PM on July 13

To be a fly on the wall in his life. He was one of a kind.

.
posted by rhizome at 2:08 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

.
posted by djseafood at 2:10 PM on July 13

One of the biggest lessons I’m still trying to internalize is how much we need to be kind to ourselves
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:16 PM on July 13 [9 favorites]

.
posted by retronic at 2:16 PM on July 13

He'll be sweating with the angels.
posted by mittens at 2:22 PM on July 13 [12 favorites]

.
posted by mersen at 2:31 PM on July 13

Aww, man. He definitely made this world a brighter place.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:32 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

Richard Simmons on "Whose Line Is It Anyway". One of the top TV sketches of all time.
posted by blob at 2:35 PM on July 13 [32 favorites]

.
posted by whatevernot at 2:45 PM on July 13

.
posted by little mouth at 2:46 PM on July 13

.
posted by briank at 2:46 PM on July 13

Never could really figure out what had been happening to him in the last decade or so. Didn't seem good though.

.
posted by Windopaene at 2:47 PM on July 13 [2 favorites]

Previously. His classes in LA sounded fun.

.
posted by credulous at 2:47 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

.
posted by JohnFromGR at 2:48 PM on July 13

.
posted by jim in austin at 2:51 PM on July 13

Letterman's guest lineup is dwindling.

.
posted by Sphinx at 2:57 PM on July 13 [2 favorites]

An American treasure. Huge loss. RIP Nr. Simmons.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:01 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

So my sister was a model for BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) back in the day, and the dirty little secret of that magazine was that they didn't pay their models - which of course they could only get away with because the models were large women.

My sister was once on a local TV show with Carole Shaw, who ran BBW, and Richard Simmons. Simmons asked Shaw, "Why don't you pay your models?" Shaw went ballistic and insisted the exchange be cut from the program, which it was.

I've always respected Simmons for saying something. He seemed like a good and decent man. RIP Richard.
posted by FencingGal at 3:07 PM on July 13 [45 favorites]

Eerie that he went the day after his birthday, and that whole Twitter thing earlier this year.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:10 PM on July 13

His classes in LA sounded fun.

they were!!!!!!
posted by knock my sock and i'll clean your clock at 3:14 PM on July 13 [5 favorites]

.
posted by clavdivs at 3:16 PM on July 13

I think the best Richard Simmons moment ever had to be when he agreed to be on Howard Stern's radio show if Stern would go see Prince of Tides with him. But then once they got on the air, Stern said he wasn't doing it. ("But HOWARD. You PROMISED.")

Years later, Howard Stern sent a young woman on his staff to cover a Richard Simmons appearance. She had been given a list of shitty questions to ask him. One was, "Do you think obese people are mentally ill," and another was, "Were you sexually molested as a child." Simmons responded to the first question with dignity and grace, and shut her down after the second, saying gently but firmly, "You know what, I don't think you're here for the right reasons, but thanks for coming out." He could take a joke, but he wasn't going to let bigotry pass, nor was he taking abuse.

Simmons genuinely cared about people and he helped a lot of people by making exercise and dieting as simple and fun and accessible as possible. I have heard him tell how he got his start. He'd moved to L.A. and was trying to find a gym, but everyone at the gyms just looked so perfect he didn't feel like he fit in at any of them. One day he was waiting in line at a gym and there was a woman in front of him in line who was very overweight and who was trying to sign up, and he heard the girl behind the desk tell the woman, sorry, we're not taking new members now, we're full, even though that patently wasn't true.

He went after the woman and got her name and number, and the next week he started his own gym, which was run on the principle that everyone should feel welcome and comfortable there.
posted by orange swan at 3:25 PM on July 13 [53 favorites]

.
posted by May Kasahara at 3:48 PM on July 13

One of my most enduring memories of Richard Simmons was him good-naturedly irritating David Letterman on his show by repeatedly breaking out into "I Believe I Can Fly". It kept getting funnier and funnier.

.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:59 PM on July 13 [6 favorites]

..
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 4:11 PM on July 13

.
posted by adrienneleigh at 4:13 PM on July 13

.
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:38 PM on July 13

.
posted by Glinn at 5:00 PM on July 13

RIP to my high school’s most famous alumni.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 5:00 PM on July 13 [3 favorites]

.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 5:17 PM on July 13

Richard Simmons made a nice guest appearance on The Larry Sanders Show, even though they were being kinda snobby at him off set.
posted by ovvl at 5:17 PM on July 13

.
posted by Ickster at 5:25 PM on July 13

.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:35 PM on July 13

.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 5:51 PM on July 13

.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:09 PM on July 13

.

"Live It" on his 1982 album Reach is a legitimate piece of yacht rock and my love for it is less and less ironic as time goes on.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 6:09 PM on July 13 [3 favorites]

.
posted by Silvery Fish at 6:11 PM on July 13

.
posted by mcbeth at 6:12 PM on July 13

.
posted by sueinnyc at 6:19 PM on July 13

.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 6:55 PM on July 13

.
posted by Mitheral at 7:06 PM on July 13

.
posted by kinnakeet at 7:14 PM on July 13

.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 7:15 PM on July 13

.
posted by Ber at 7:31 PM on July 13

.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:55 PM on July 13

.
posted by bunderful at 8:34 PM on July 13

.
posted by DingoMutt at 9:25 PM on July 13

.
posted by lapolla at 9:43 PM on July 13

.
posted by potrzebie at 9:50 PM on July 13

when I was a kid he had those "sweatin' to the oldies" videos they sold on tv.

I asked my dad, and he said "I think he's a middle aged gay guy that sells exercise tapes".

That's true, but he was much funnier than that.

I didn't like when that podcast was stalking him, and I don't think he ever had a bad word for anyone, even when he was treated poorly.

rip rich, get st peter some abs.
posted by lkc at 10:56 PM on July 13 [1 favorite]

My fave has to be Fit to Fly.
posted by inexorably_forward at 11:19 PM on July 13 [2 favorites]

.
posted by neuracnu at 11:36 PM on July 13

.
posted by HeroZero at 2:17 AM on July 14

.
posted by Lesser Spotted Potoroo at 6:31 AM on July 14

.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:39 AM on July 14

.
posted by TwoStride at 9:28 AM on July 14

.
posted by riruro at 9:35 AM on July 14