Richard Simmons' SAD and LONELY Life: His MYSTERIOUS Disappearance and HARSH Isolation

it's swe time Richard Simmons was one of the most visible celebrities in America get to believe in our society that only the thin people are successful and that's not true at all hey Come Dance With Me Come Dance With Me come on is Richard Simmons now a woman that's the shocking headline in the National Inquirer you're sometimes very womanly and sometimes man yeah he relates to both sexes that's why people like him is that I am that cour Simmons has not been seen in public ever since for more than 8 years no one should be worried about me Richard Simmons is a fitness icon who dominated the media for decades and rebranded what it meant to be an Entertainer in Wellness but Richard wasn't doing too great himself he struggled with his identity and secret health issues he kept from the public it wasn't until he disappeared we learned about Richard's struggles and the battle he was facing behind closed doors this is the sad and dark downfall of Richard Simmons so let's get into [Music] it we're going to be talking about somebody who completely transformed the fitness industry and brought it into the entertainment World Richard Simmons was a big deal because not only was he working out but he was working out in front of everyone he was able to create a series where he put himself in your your home and build a personal connection with them it was a different way of becoming a celebrity not the classic you know Hollywood movies and red carpet it was Fitness it was different and he was unique actually there is a secret birth defect that Richard Simmons has and added to his stardom to give you guys some context for about three decades it seemed to you couldn't go anywhere in America without seeing Richard Simmons the flamboyant Fitness Guru was a ubiquit Force fronting infomercials and Publishing cookbooks and selling tens of millions of workout videos that revolutionized the exercise industry forever from the 80s onward the frizzy-haired gleeful eccentric Entertainer was also a fixture on daytime and nighttime TV talk shows quipping The Comedians and becoming one of the most beloved celebrities in the country and when I mean Richard Simmons was everywhere he was everywhere and people loved him because he was so different what is I opened my studio up 31 years ago and where was that it's still there where here in Beverly Hills that was the first one yes my first one I been I opened it 31 years ago as a child yeah you know we're both from New Orleans we are both from New Orleans I bet you don't remember when we first met [Music] man you don't remember do you I was going to keep singing go ahead yes I do remember where you how long ago was it it it was before I was famous that's right what happened happened you came up to me and said I'm where was I at a agency at William Morris and you walked in with a two-piece beige outfit and you were in the lobby and you were all alone waiting for somebody and I popped right in and I went you're going to be famous Ellen Ellen I just saw you on TV and you're going to be a big store was that right I think you guys could tell from that interview that Richard Simmons is one of a kind but in 2014 Richard who had recently tearfully referred to himself as a court jester suddenly vanished from from the spotlight and he hasn't made any public appearances since TMZ put out a piece about Richard Simmons that states that the sassy self- assured version of himself that he presented to the public was merely a front and that the real Richard Simmons was profoundly shy and a sensitive Soul who struggled being made fun of part of the reason why Richard Simmons was so famous was because he was quirky he acted a little bit different people laughed with him and partially at him and while it seemed like Richard was in on it in the you know on the joke and he kind of you know pushed that and leaned into it it still kind of destroyed him inside knowing that he was a laughing stalk supposedly Richard Simmons has been holed up in his Hollywood Hills Home due to a painful ailment that he has been battling with since birth and he's been keeping it a secret from his adoring public quote something that's happened to him at Birth is directly connected to his disappearance a managing editor at TMZ said that he has a birth defect that significant iFly affects one of his legs he was born without a full set of bones in his foot and it causes physical and emotional problems which I'm sure that is true because if this is his career Fitness and using his body it must be terrible to realize that your body isn't going to keep up with you quote Richard found comfort in food and he gained a lot of weight a producer says and that put a lot of stress on his knees now some claim it was this early but enduring damage that spearheaded his eventual rise to pop culture Legend and later his downfall into a world of loneliness and despair I think looking back at old videos of Richard Simmons it's sad to imagine that this guy is all cooped up in his home and depressed and not feeling good about himself because he pushed the opposite message as a celebrity it's sweating time Richard Simmons was one of the most visible celebrities in America I kiss and hug more people than the pope he had biggest heart you've ever imagined he deeply cared about people I always welcome everyone with unconditional love you couldn't turn on a TV without seeing him everybody in the audience got one today but then in 2014 he just vanished it was almost like you were going to a funeral but of a person who was still living Richard Simmons has not been seen in public ever since for more than 8 years and the theories are a while so let's get into these theories and why Richard Simmons would just go away now Richard Simmons was born in July 1948 and he was raised in New Orleans the workout King claimed that he came out of his mother's womb with a fork because the food was so good down in New Orleans that he was ready to eat I haven't been down there yet so I want to go check it out I've heard good things Richard said I could recogize a package of bacon at 20 ft the strips of bacon looked so weak so flimsy so sad until they hit the frying pan then they began swimming and dancing lacing up at the sides and turning golden brown so he clearly has some interesting relationship with food that probably plays into his Fitness Obsession as a teenager Richard's weight became more of a problem quote puberty was graduating from thousand island salad dressing to Caesar salads from hot dogs and hamburgers to beef stroganov and from ice cream in a cone to Crim Bret Richard's obesity had a hugely negative effect on his selfworth as emotionally recalled in an 80s interview he said I went through a lot of her as a child I was the largest child in school so eating was something that he found comfort in but he also realized there was so much pain being obese and getting bullied for it Richard actually admitted to Oprah in the 80s that he developed an ed he had an eating disorder After High School he said he stopped eating and he got to 119 lb keep in mind he was a 15-year-old boy weighing in at 200 100 so that was a pretty significant drop there are three groups of people in our society that have been shafted that have been rejected and neglected that's the overweight the senior citizen and the disabled my highest was 268 and my lowest was 119 because at my at a certain point I was very afraid to eat because I was very afraid to die yeah you know and so I stopped eating and I got 219 lbs and ended up in the hospital and that's why so you were anorexic for a while oh yeah the thought food like when I saw spaghetti I saw worms I saw I mean I started picturing food as an anime when was this well I had I'd lost 123 lbs and uh when I was 19 that was quite a while ago and then when I was 20 I began losing even more and went down from 136 down to 119 because you know you you get to believe in our society that only the thin people are successful and that's not true at all so obviously Richard had a lot of different thoughts through his mind and actually he used his birth defect and his foot as fuel to become fit and healthy he claims he adopted a lifestyle of balance moderate eating and exercise and although he managed to shed the pounds he never managed to shed the insecurity that accompanied his obesity and the birth defect he kept concealed from everyone after he relocated to Los Angeles in his early 20s Richard realized that Fitness facilities only targeted those who were already in shape I think you guys can relate to this if you aren't the most fit or you're not comfortable in the gym it's kind of hard to get comfortable in the gym because everyone there is already so fit so it's intimidating I mean even I I I consider myself fit obviously but like I still get uncomfortable and intimidated especially if I'm not in my normal gym and my normal environment because working out it can be really vulnerable understanding the adversity of obesity he opened up his own gym and began to conduct classes focused on Rarity in the area of increasingly popular hookup gym culture he appealed to and supported attendees of all sheeps and sizes his workout videos soon followed with viewers falling for Richard Simmons exuberant and excentric personality and Richard Simmons was so80s I mean he was in hot pants bedazzled tank tops and he had a really light hearted approach when it came to obesity which keep in mind up until this point everyone was shamed for being fat so then he finally said hey don't feel that shame anymore come in here and feel good about yourself and work it off his 1988 sweat to the oldies video became the biggest selling Fitness home video of all time grossing north of $20 million while viewers loved the campy Persona that Richard Simmons presented to the public he became a punchline for comedians across the country and it took a private toll on him when Richard Simmons walked out on Howard Stern I came here to talk about Congress I we're going to talk about Cong I'm talking about I'm talking about you putting your penis inside of the woman oh Robin wear a costume like why will you never wear this is not a costume no I mean you work that is so offensive even Gary phone who wants stop it stop it Richard Richard come here don't leave like this Richard you're making a mistake don't leave like this I knew how would get out of line did I say something wrong yes no he might have you know some what female Tendencies well though we all you heard I'm going to go out and say something said that I'm going to bring him back in here then he said you appeal he is Howard Stern is such a terrible guy and poor old sensitive Richard Simmons he's over here getting bullied by Howard and clearly he couldn't take it running away in tears Richard Simmons was a frequent guest on The Late Show with David Letterman and they seem to have a good time until an appearance in the year 2000 David Letterman hoisted Richard Simmons down on air with a fire extinguisher leaving the fitness Guru visibly upset and he refused to return to the show for 6 [Music] years Suzanne Summers opened up about a sad encounter she had with Richard Simmons behind the scenes at a talk show she said one night I was at Larry King show and he was either going to be a guest or supposed to to be a guest that being Richard Simmons and I heard through the Larry King people that he didn't want to be on the show with me Suzanne Summer said why and he said she'll make fun of me and that's not my style I never make fun of anybody but that's when I realized a little insecurity has gotten in there Suzanne said I liked him I was always so surprised when he thought I'd make fun of him but doesn't that show you he's got a heartache something's broken inside because he did it he had it and he then let it go the insecure Richard Simmons also struggled with other aspects of his appearance admitting that he had three horribly painful hair transplants after his anorexic battle resulted in hair loss which a lot of Eating Disorders will result to your teeth decaying your hair falling out and Richard Simmons is one of those people who experiened those symptoms Richard said I've had hair transplants but you can only do so much so I have 12 hairs left and I just spray them toss them and then make them look like a salad I'm glad I have hair on my head you know meanwhile the highly empathetic exercise entrepreneur allegedly struggled to separate himself from the struggles of his dieting deves in response to Richard Simmons Dr Phil said there's a tremendous burden you take on when you connect with so many people that are sharing their challenges with you it could really drag you down one former attendee at Richard Simmons gym said the star would cry until snot came out of his nose because he was so emotionally invested in the well-being of his fans and you could tell why people love Richard Simmons because of the way he interacted with his fans I mean he got personal with them people felt comfortable with him he was on TV and their homes they were working out with him it was a different celebrity relationship there's a tremendous burden you take on when you connect with so many people that are sharing with you their challenges their burdens and it can really drag you down I was always so surprised when he thought I'd make fun of him but doesn't that show you he's got like a heart ache something's broken inside I happen to be a very serious person uh and pretty much a recluse so as I've told you guys Richard Simmons hasn't been seen since 2014 the Superstar suddenly stopped performing in public citing problems with his knee according to the documentary Simmons underwent a right knee replacement that left him in a considerable amount of pain doctors told him that he would need a left knee replacement but he refused to have the surgery after being too traumatized by the the first operation quote we know still to this day that Richard still hasn't gotten the corrective surgery on his left knee he walks with a cane and that explains a lot he's just not the same guy anymore which when your entire reputation has been built on being the fitness guy and he already was so traumatized by this one knee surgery they should have just done both of them at the same time maybe it's like a healing thing like you just get one done so you can heal that one and do the other but of course Richard did not react well to that TMZ Harvey 11 also adds that Richard Simmons decision to retreat from public has been about preserving his brand quote he wanted to be remembered as the vibrant and healthy Richard Simmons not an elderly man with a medical problem and that makes sense to me he doesn't want to be seen as weak with a cane he wants to be that happy guy that we have record of so he's just going to remove himself since he's not that person anymore which is sad because you know as a human we all have growth we go through phases he doesn't have to be the same Richard Simmons we can still love him for who he was and who he is now well after a 2-year public absence the fitness Guru broke his silence and addressed all kinds of rumors with ET weight gain witchcraft even kidnapping no I'm not kidnapped I'm under no spell sometimes we get lost in our sadness now our last sit down with Richard was in August of 2013 and this moment caught our attention when the king gets depressed he doesn't call for his wife or the cook yeah he calls for the little man with a pointed hat and he says to the courtchester make me laugh and I am that courtchester a documentary exploring what happened to Richard Simmons revealed that he has been withdrawn and he's a loner even at the height of his Fame the publicly bold and Brash Richard Simmons preferred to spend Nights At Home Alone the LAPD performed a welfare check on Richard Simmons at his Hollywood Hills Home in 2016 after concerns that his longtime housekeeper Teresa was holding him against his will but cops found that the Superstar was articulate relaxed and lucid and appeared to be living happy at home with his housekeeper as company the only impairment that police noted at the time of their visit was a slight limp to his knee which adds up Richard said nobody is holding me hostage I do what I want I've always done that people should always believe what I have to say because I'm Richard Simmons so really he just wants to escape and live a private life and I guess he doesn't even leave his home which is kind of scary to me like can you imagine being in your home every single day and not leaving I mean I just get so I get like angsty if I'm home too long so that would really stress me out is she holding you hostage oh no Tesa has been with me for 30 years so we're like an old married couple well when was the last time you actually left your well I go on rides and I go on walks but you know I haven't done any television lately when I still weigh 15 I work out every day I have a gym here at the house and I'm very healthy there was time for me to take some time to be by myself you know for the last 40 years I've been traveling teaching classes and I had a knee injury so I had a knee replacement which was very difficult for me and now my other knee is hurting and I don't want to have another replacement so I've just really been taking it easy no one should be worried about me shortly after we heard this phone interview from Richard Simmons more rumors came about and there were rumors that Richard was actually transitioning into a woman that he was transgendered kind of like what Caitlyn Jenner had experienced and um this was something that Richard Simmons did not like and actually sued for defamation but this lawsuit was was dismissed and Richard was left with the bills to pay the attorney fees of these publishing companies because they alleged that he may have been transgender they never actually fully claimed it I don't know what basis they had but either way Richard did not win that battle it was kind of just thrown away nonetheless he had to pay $130,000 in attorney fees to Media outlets and their publisher Richard sued the media outlets in May 2017 after they ran articles claiming that he is transgender a June 2016 cover of the national inquire for example read Richard Simmons he's now a woman in his lawsuit Richard claimed the outlets published these stories with calculated malice quote this case is about particularly egregious and hurtful campaign of defamations in privacy invasions falsely asserted that Mr Simmons is transitioning from male to female including shocking sex surgery breast implant hormone treatments and consultations on medical castrations which is something that Richard said is not happening so why in the hell are you able to publish this about someone when there's no fact at all in the story while the national inquir stated on his website that its reporting on Richard Simmons was based on credible sources Richard says in his lawsuit that his former assistant whom he said has blackmailed extorted and stalked him was responsible for the false claims and I don't know what type of information this assistant had but screw them if they really think they could go and pull one on him and I don't know try to expose him for being trans I mean I feel like we should be over that as a society if he's trans then sure like let him be her and move on is it going to change what you do in your day day to day it's not going to change for what I do you know I don't care if people are trans or not Richard Simmons speaks out on rumors he's transitioning the fitness Guru took to Facebook Tuesday to address what he says are false reports quote I feel compelled to set the record straight and refute these lies although I am not transitioning I have and always will be supportive of those who are going through their journey in the post Simmons also paid tribute to the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando which claimed the lives of 49 people he added we should not lose focus on showing love strength and compassion to all of the LGBT community during these tragic times my broken heart and healing thoughts are with the people of Orlando and all other victims of prejudice bigotry and Hate Now the reason why this lawsuit was dismissed is because the Court ruled that calling someone transgendered is not hateful because saying that someone is trans does not mean that you are spreading hate on their name or um defaming their character so that's essentially why it was thrown away so yes maybe it wasn't true but it was not hateful now thankfully these stories have been recanted but the damage was done and I think moments like these are why Richard Simmons probably won't ever come back is Richard Simmons now a woman that's the shocking headline in the National Inquirer Simmons spokesman is calling the story not true and a complete fabrication he added this is crap but the Inquirer insists that Simmons is in fact transitioning into a woman according to the Inquirer his new name is Fiona and he's already had a secret boob job the front page photo purportedly shows Simmons with long black hair and full makeup and decked out in feathery longerie the magazine insists it's not photoshopped yes this photo shoot is real reads The Inquirer claims the reason Richard Simmons hasn't been seen in nearly 3 years is because he's going through the sex change and has been hiding out here at his mansion in the Hollywood Hills the shocking report comes just days after the fitness Guru was rushed to the hospital for quote bizarre behavior Simmons claims he was simply dehydrated when he returned home Monday night photographers were waiting outside his gate Richard how you doing Richard everybody's worried about you can you can you tell us how you're doing look closely at the man in in the backseat of the car is that Simmons if so he's got a full beard and mustache this is so messy clearly Richard Simmons is not mentally doing well they don't even know who's in the back of the car is it you know him with a full face of uh hair or is he dressing up like a girl and doing little photo shoots there's so much to unpack here but because Richard Simmons became such a Hot Topic people wanted to figure out what was happening with him and it got really scary borderline stalker Behavior Richard Simmons files a lawsuit against private investigator Scott Brian Matthews for planting a tracking device on the vehicle of his caretaker so one of Richard's caretakers was being followed by this investigator a second lawsuit alleges that this investigator Scott was hired by InTouch weekly to track Richard's movements Scott was actually criminally charged for this Behavior so if I was Richard I wouldn't want to leave my house either and it turns out the First Amendment does not protect putting a tracking device on Richard Simmons car according to variety a three judge panel determined that Richard Simmons can move forward with a lawsuit accusing in touch weekly of invasion of privacy after their investigator Scott was hired by the magazine and put a tracking device on his vehicle in touch weekly claims they hired investigator Scott to go and take some pictures of Richard Simmons at the hospital not to go and track him but I guess investigators Scott thought he would have to do anything to get the job done so there's some miscommunication and some really bad decisions here what's really sad about Richard's situation is how nasty people have been his entire career he was bullied back then for being kind of flamboyant feminine his outfits and now he's still being bullied you know over his possible gender identity and I just think it's really gross to to look back on these clips and to see how people spoke about this and I just really hope that we are ahead of this as a society I really don't want to ever look back and see these really nasty takes again Richard Simmons is taking off those short shorts and putting on his legal briefs what's that mean apparently Richard Simmons is suing this private detective this guy's name is Scott Brian Matthews apparently this private detective um planted a tracking device on Richard Simmons car for a year by the way if Richard Simmons supposedly hasn't left his house that's what and there there are people who are watching the house it's the easiest private investig job ever now in 2022 we hear from Richard Simmons again he breaks silence and tells the post he's living the life he has chosen quote Richard is eternally grateful for the continuous outpour of love and gratitude he's received from across the globe he is happy healthy and living the life he wants thank you to everyone for your kindness and love now that was the last time we heard from Richard Simmons until recently on Twitter and this was a Twitter thread I had to read to you guys because I don't know what to think February 26 Richard Simmons writes I have a little lump in my throat as I write this she is one of the most powerful and adored women she is the queen of TV an actress producer a bookwriter and a lecturer when she talks everyone listens she has billions of followers all you have to do is think of her first name I'm speaking about Oprah in the ' 80s she flew me out to Baltimore Maryland to do her talk show she greeted me with a smile and a hug she dressed so beautifully she was a fashionista I still remember a long colorful silk scarf that draped around her upper body and tied on her shoulder when I told her my story she was interested and showed her happiness for me later she moved to Chicago and she had me on again again only kindness emanated from her I watched her show every day she could interview anybody and the audience adored her when she walked on stage the audience went crazy one day she walked out pulling a red wagon and in the Red Wagon was some kind of lard or fat representing the amount of weight she lost Oprah wore a turtleneck and a pair of jeans she radiated light I was coming out of a studio where ID met the national gossip columnist named Cindy Adams she was petite with perfect makeup and qued hair she asked me what do you think of Oprah's weight loss I replied as long as Oprah exercises and eats healthy she'll be fine the next day she wrote a column in a headline that was Richard Simmons thinks Oprah will gain all of her weight back and some I never said that she made it all up to sell news newspapers I forgave Cindy because that's the kind of person I am when Oprah read this I was erased from her life and I never asked to be on her show again she never ever forgave me for something I did not say I still respect Oprah her heart is filled with helping people just like me I still remember those two times I did her show I never talked to a gossip colonist ever again the world is a better place because of Oprah love Richard which I think is such like why am I getting sad I'm like damn we really have done Richard wrong as Society we weren't ready for someone like him someone as colorful and you know kind of fruity I mean as a gay person I could say he's fruity but in the best way possible it's like we needed more people like him so that people who are expressive who are flamboyant have a place on television to be who they are and I'm sorry to Richard Simmons that us we the world we were not ready for him but I hope you guys enjoyed this video I hope this isn't the end of Richard Simmons but it was interesting to see him on Twitter and to get this off his chest and I think that there is plenty of space for him to come back in whatever capacity he's in whatever Health mindset he's in I mean we are a different Society now as far as body positivity and if he wants to come out limping with a cane or in a wheelchair or whatever we will be here to praise him so I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I will see you in a new one soon bye guys [Music] he [Music]

Channel: SLOAN

Views: 121,452

Keywords: richard simmons, richard simmons workout, richard simmons whose line is it anyway, richard simmons interview, where is richard simmons

Id: upkX1QNRey4

Length: 28min 42sec (1722 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2024