The Texas native disappeared from movies almost as quickly as she arrived in them. By the 1990s, she began retiring from acting and retreated from public life.
Simmons has been out of the public spotlight since 2014, an absence which inspired the hit 2017 podcast “Missing Richard Simmons.”FILE - In this June 2, 2006, file photo, Richard Simmons speaks to the audience before the start of a summer salad fashion showLOS ANGELES — Richard Simmons, television's hyperactive court jester of physical fitness who built a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and short shorts by urging the overweight to exercise and eat better, died Saturday.
Simmons, who had revealed a skin diagnosis in March 2024, had lately dropped out of sight, sparking speculating about his health and well-being. Simmons embraced mass communication to get his message out, even as he eventually became the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant flair. He was a guest on TV shows led by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. But David Letterman would prank him and Howard Stern would tease him until he cried.
He was known to counsel the severely obese, including Rosalie Bradford, who held records for being the world's heaviest woman, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons for helping him lose 700 pounds. Simmons put real people — chubby, balding or non-telegenic — in his exercise videos to make the fitness goals seem reachable.
Simmons told the AP his mother watched exercise guru Jack LaLanne's TV show religiously when he was growing up, but he wasn't crazy about the fitness fanatic."I hated him," Simmons said."I wasn't ready for his message because he was fit and he was healthy and he had such a positive attitude, and I was none of those things."
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