Richard Simmons — the legendary fitness guru — has died at 76 … TMZ has learned.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … police and fire responded to a call from his housekeeper just before 10 AM Saturday and pronounced him dead at the scene. We’re told no foul play is suspected at this time, and cops are looking into it as a natural death.
Shockingly, RS posted multiple times on Facebook recently … including thanking fans for all the birthday wishes he received.
Simmons was born in New Orleans, Lousiana way back in 1948 … later attending Florida State University where he got a Bachelor’s degree in art before he moved to Los Angeles in the ’70s.
Starting out as a waiter in Beverly Hills, Simmons opened up a series of gyms for customers who weren’t already in incredible shape.
He opened The Anatomy Asylum — later renamed Slimmons — which originally included a salad bar … as a main tenant of Simmons’ exececise philosophy revolved around healthy eating. Slimmon closed in 2016.
He released dozens of fitness tapes and DVDs including favorites like “Sweatin’ to the Oldies,” “Party off the Pounds,” “Blast Off,” “Pump and Sweat” “Tonin Uptown,” “Tonin Downtown,” and many more.
Fans gravitated toward Richard for his positive, flamboyant energy … though in his later life he stepped away because of the demands of keeping up his persona in the spotlight — a topic we dove into in our documentary “TMZ Investigates: What Happened to Richard Simmons.”
We last caught up with Richard back in 2014 … and, he had a whole host of helpful hints for our viewers on how to get fit.
Richard was 76.
RIP
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