Tom Estey, who had been Richard Simmons’s longtime spokesperson, confirmed to People that the musician had passed away at the age of 76.
Following the news that Richard Simmons had passed away at the age of 76, the fitness guru continued to provide his ardent fans with updates on social media only a few hours before the news broke.
Around eight o’clock in the morning, Pacific Time, on Saturday, July 13, the professional fitness instructor uploaded a picture of himself dressed as a woman to a number of social media sites, including Facebook and X (which was then known as Twitter). It was written in his caption, “Hello, darling! I beg you, please don’t damage my upbeat disposition.
On the day before his 76th birthday, Simmons had sent a heartfelt greeting to his fans, noting that he “never got so many messages about my birthday in my life.” Simmons’s birthday was the day before in question.
Simmons recently gave an interview to PEOPLE, which was published on Friday, in which he discussed his plans for celebrating his birthday. It was claimed by him that he wanted to keep things simple and have a few candles blown out.
On the other hand, it is likely that the candle will be placed on a zucchini. He started out by saying, “You ought to know that I am a vegetarian,” and then he went on to say that he would have “maybe one Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie.”
During the course of the conversation, the late singer said, “I feel good!” I am grateful that I am still alive to experience another day. Helping others is something I do every day, and I want to spend my birthday doing the same thing.
The death of Simmons was confirmed to PEOPLE on Saturday by Tom Estey, who had been the publicist for the professional fitness guru for all of his years. TMZ was the first news outlet to reveal the information, citing sources inside law enforcement.
At around ten o’clock in the morning Pacific Time on Saturday, authorities reacted to a call from the housekeeper of the former Richard Simmons Show star, although they did not suspect any foul play.
The statement that Estey made to PEOPLE about Simmons was, “The world has truly lost an angel.”
Since 2014, when he taught his last class at Slimmons, the well-known fitness club in Beverly Hills that he had founded, the former television personality has been virtually entirely absent from the forefront of public attention. In the beginning, he said that he would be taking a break in order to recover from a knee injury; nevertheless, he never made another public appearance, and Slimmons went out of business in November of 2016.
During the same year, rumors began to surface about the star, including the assertion that he was being held captive at his home against his will. However, he indicated on many occasions that he needed time off in order to unwind and get away from the public eye.
During an appearance on the Today program, he said, “I do what I want to do, as I have always done.” “At this moment, I just want to focus on taking care of myself. I have taught hundreds of courses in the meanwhile. I am completely unwilling to engage in any activity. Simply put, I have no desire to travel any more. It has unquestionably been a burden for me to bear.