An article came out in The NY Daily News over the weekend claiming that friends of Richard Simmons, 67, were extremely concerned after they had been unable to contact him for nearly two years. Simmons owns an exercise studio, where he used to teach classes, and hasn’t been seen there either. There have been press murmurs for years that Simmons has all but disappeared from the public, but he’s countered that with statements that he’s doing fine. TMZ reported in late 2014, after he hadn’t been seen for nearly a year, that sources close to Simmons claimed he was fine and just sad following a knee replacement and the loss of his beloved dog. In early 2015, LAPD officers visited Simmons at home following complaints of possible elder abuse. They left after speaking to Simmons, who was in the home alone and said to be lucid, gracious, and just wanting a break after years in the public eye.
The Daily News piece painted a disturbing picture of Simmons’s home life, with one former friend of Simmons, Mauro Oliveira, claiming that Simmons’s housekeeper had kicked him out during his last visit and that it seemed like the housekeeper and Simmons’s brother were possibly controlling him. The News had quotes from other friends of Simmons, including a wig shop owner who tried to deliver flowers to him on his birthday and was similarly turned away by the housekeeper. In his last appearance on television, in late 2013, Simmons broke down in tears. It seems like something nefarious could be going on, however Oliveira was a former employee and a questionable source. He admitted that Simmons paid his rent for years and that he asked him for money in one of his last visits.
Well Simmons tried to quash all that with a call to ET in which he insists everything is fine. ET has the recording of a phone call with him and he sounds fine:
“I am not kidnapped,” the 67-year-old fitness guru told ET’s executive producer, Brad Bessey, by phone. “I am just in my house right now.”
“No one should be worried about me,” Simmons said. “The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me.”
On Saturday, the New York Daily News published a long report citing on and off the record sources who expressed concern for Simmons’ well-being.
Simmons called the report “very hurtful.”
“I love all the people who worry about me,” Simmons said. “But it was time for me to take some time to be by myself. For the last 40 years I have been traveling, teaching classes, and I had a knee injury, so I had a knee replacement, which was very difficult for me… I have really just been taking it easy, staying at home, working out in my gym and doing the things I haven’t done in a very long time.”
According to Simmons, he’s been keeping in shape despite concern that he might need another knee replacement. In response to speculation he has avoided going out because he has gained weight, Simmons said, “I still weigh 150. I work out every day. I have a gym at the house, and I am very healthy.”
Simmons was last photographed in January 2014 by TMZ…
“This is how I want to live my life right now,” Simmons told ET on Sunday. “And to all the people that are worried about me, please don’t be. If I was in any trouble, if I was hurting in any way, I would reach out. It is time right now for Richard Simmons to take care of Richard Simmons.”
It sounds like he’s ok and he seems very coherent but if I was his friend I would still be worried. It seems so out of character for him to just stop responding to everyone. I will say one thing though, he’s at retirement age and how do you retire from a position serving the public like that? He’s played a version of himself in the public for years, and maybe he’s just tired of it. He’s certainly earned a break. Simmons has helped so many people and he’s very much missed.
These photos are from late 2013. Credit: WENN.com