Exercise expert Richard Simmons said sorry on Monday for a social media post that made people think he was dying.
“I have some news to tell you. Please don’t be sad. I am … dying. Oh I can see your faces now. The truth is we all are dying. Every day we live we are getting closer to our death,” he wrote on X early Monday.
When fans took those words literally, he posted a follow-up note: “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.”
The 75-year-old is best known for his ’80s exercise video series, “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.” He has been out of the public eye for the last decade or so, prompting sporadic, Kate Middleton-esque searches, as well as a podcast called “Missing Richard Simmons” from 2014.In 2016, Simmons called into theshow to refute the rumor that he was being held hostage by his housekeeper. He explained that he “sort of wanted to be a little bit of a loner for a little while” after hurting his knee.
His rep then told Today Entertainment Tonight
in 2018, when Simmons turned 70, “He’s doing very well. He’s his jovial self. He spends most of his time at home and in his yard. He keeps up with his reading and does what he wants to do. He deserves this time to himself.” In January, Simmons wrote on that he never gave comedian Pauly Shore permission to play him in either the short film “The Court Jester” or
the upcoming biopic Facebook being produced by Mark Wolper of The Wolper Organization “While we would love to have [Simmons] involved, we respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story,” Wolper told Variety when the feature was announced. “I am not dying. It was a message about saying how we should embrace every day that we have,” the “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” star wrote on Monday
“While we would love to have [Simmons] involved, we respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story,” Wolper told Variety when the feature was announced.
