Richard Simmons Says He’s Dying in Post to Fans: ‘Please Don’t Be Sad’

Fitness guru Richard Simmons posted on social media Monday that he is “dying” in a cryptic post in which he said everyone else is also nearing their demise. The former TV mainstay-turned-recluse, now 75, authored seven…

IJR SyndicatedMar 19, 20243 min read

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“Sorry many of you have gotten upset about my message today. Even the press has gotten in touch with me. I am not dying. It was a message about saying how we should embrace every day that we have. Sorry for this confusion,” Simmons wrote.

Simmons was a television regular in the 1980s and 1990s and taught aerobics classes in person in Los Angeles before, People magazine noted, he suddenly vanished from public view in early 2014.

Rumors circulated at the time that he might have been terminally ill while some people believed he had been kidnapped.

People reported he suffered a significant knee injury.

In November 2014, he took to his Facebook page to thank people for sharing concern for his well-being.

“I am so touched by the outpouring of love and concern I have received today. I have had a tough time dealing with this injury, as it is keeping me from doing what I truly love to do and that is to teach classes around the world,” Simmons wrote. “Make sure you keep Sweatin’!”

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Two years later, a representative for Simmons said that his decision to walk away from public life was one rooted in a desire for privacy.

“Richard, after 40 years of being in the spotlight, is now simply taking a break from the public eye and working behind the scenes to continue to help those millions of people worldwide in need of his assistance and on several projects to be announced soon,” the representative said.

In a January Facebook post, Simmons said he said he was living a “peaceful” life of solitude.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.