Fitness pioneer Richard Simmons dies 1 day after 76th birthday

Richard Simmons, a fitness guru known for his little shorts and big personality as the king of home exercise videos, has died at age 76, one day after his birthday and on the heels of an interview in which he reported feeling good, according to media reports.

Simmons died at his home in Hollywood on Saturday morning, his longtime publicist, Tom Estey, confirmed with USA TODAY. TMZ was first to report the death of Simmons, who turned 76 on Friday.

About the possible cause of death, Estey said he had "no idea."

Earlier this year, Simmons announced on Facebook that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer after seeing a dermatologist about a "strange-looking bump" under his right eye. Simmons had basal cell carcinoma.

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Simmons gave a rare interview to People magazine this week, telling the magazine that he might blow out some candles for his birthday.

"But the candle will probably be on a zucchini,” Simmons told the magazine. “You know, I'm a vegetarian.”

He also reported that he was doing well, saying: "I feel good! I am grateful that I'm here, that I am alive for another day. I'll spend my birthday doing what I do every day, which is to help people."  

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Simmons, an exercise guru for all

The fitness coach built a multimedia empire with "The Richard Simmons Show" and VHS exercise videos such as "Sweating With the Oldies."

Born Milton Teagle Simmons in New Orleans in 1948, Simmons grew up in the French Quarter and sold pralines on the street. The city’s rich food heritage contributed to him becoming an overweight child and an overweight young adult, he has said.

Simmons weighed nearly 270 pounds when he graduated from high school in the 1960s.

“I mean I was mucho big. You know how they teach you early on that ‘Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you?’ Well that’s a lie,” Simmons told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1983, People magazine reported. “But who has the last laugh now?”

By his mid-20s, Simmons had prevailed over his weight battle and moved to Los Angeles in 1973, where he opened an exercise studio called Slimmons in Beverly Hills, according to his website. He continued to teach classes and host seminars there until 2013.

As Simmons became a fixture on local and national radio and TV, he became a sought-after fitness expert even playing himself on soap opera “General Hospital” for four years. His nationally syndicated series, “The Richard Simmons Show," ran from 1984 to 1989 and won Daytime Emmys for best direction and best talk show, according to Variety. 

Simmons had a hugely successful career with exercise home videos, releasing 65 fitness videos and selling more than 20 million copies, his website says. On the videos – with names such as “Party Off the Pounds” and “Disco Sweat” – Simmons would lead exercise routines and shout encouragement as popular music tracks gave exercisers a beat to workout to.

Simmons "preached exercise, diet and most of all kindness," Chicago Sun-Times TV and movie reviewer Richard Roeper posted on social media network X. "He positively impacted thousands and thousands of lives. I’m one of the hundreds and hundreds of TV people who basked in his energy and readily accepted those crazy hugs. Rest well."

Richard Simmons dies on same day as Dr. Ruth

Simmons' death came hours after the announcement of the death of another 1980s icon, pint-sized sexpert "Dr. Ruth" Westheimer, who passed on Friday in New York City at the age of 96.

The back-to-back deaths gained drew social media attention to an old and charming interview between Simmons and Westheimer.

Westheimer told Simmons in the old footage: "You burst on the scene and everybody's happy, and I love that. You bring a lot of joie de vivre," she said, using the French term that means "joy for life."

Simmons replied: "I think people without a scene of humor, it's just awful. You must have a sense of humor, life is too short."