Not many people know that fitness guru Richard Simmons in his formative years was actually overweight and frustrated by diets. His career as a fitness expert was well informed by his youthful experience, and since then he has created a handful of aerobics DVDs, books, and most importantly, the Richard Simmons gym to help people who want to lose those extra pounds.
Throughout his fitness career, Richard has continued to preach health and fitness with the few resources he created, appearing on television shows and even starting his own private television show known as the Richard Simmons Show. In 2008 he experienced a shift in focus and became active on the political front. Richard advocated a political bill called the No Child Left Behind Act, which emphasized that public schools should not be competitive in their physical education programs.
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Where Is Richard Simmons Now, Dead Or Alive?
Richard had his last public appearance in February 2014, and after a few years in March 2016, people began to speculate that the fitness guy was being held hostage in his own home by his housekeeper. Richard himself denied the rumors in an audio interview broadcast on the Today show on March 14, but then, without making this public, the Simmons gym closed in November of that year. His unannounced disappearance prompted a podcast entitled Missing Richard Simmons, which triggered investigations into his sudden departure from the public eye in February 2017.
The rumors and speculation brought LAPD investigators to the home of the fitness guru in March 2017, and after running a welfare check, they issued a statement claiming that Richard was alive and well and that whatever he wanted to do with his time was absolutely his business. Following his hospitalization for severe indigestion, Richard wrote a post on Facebook on April 19, 2017, titled “I’m not ‘missing, just a little under the weather”, but people claimed the post could have been made by someone pretending to be him because the photo used in the post was a bit old.
Another facet of the speculation claimed that he disappeared to undergo a sex-change operation that led to a lawsuit between Richard and some media. By all indications, the fitness freak seems to be alive and kicking, as in June 2018 he filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles private investigator for installing tracking devices in his vehicle. He even showed up the next month to amend the complaint, claiming that the investigator worked for In Touch Weekly.
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Is Richard Simmons Gay?
The many questions about Richard’s sexual orientation will certainly find answers in his strange behavior and lifestyle. According to the fitness boss, he has a lot to offer people, but not much for a single person, which is certainly ambiguous. Besides, he lives alone with only two domestic workers and three Dalmatians. His lifestyle has challenged his sexuality, but for his part, he has never openly revealed his sexuality, so we cannot categorically say whether he is gay or heterosexual.
Apart from the lifestyle of the fitness icon, his age is another fact that has led people to speculate that Richard may not be heterosexual after all. According to their calculations, it doesn’t make much sense that a seventy-year-old is still single and has never had a love affair with the opposite sex in the past. Moreso, it was said on the street that he was dating a Swiss porn star named Daniel Holt in 1992. His name was also associated with the gay hustler Bruce Headrick in the 80s.
Even when Richard retired from public life in 2014, there were rumors that he underwent reconstructive surgery aimed at a sex change. In fact, Richard American Media, Inc. was forced to sue National Enquirer and Radar Online for defamatory publications. He later lost the case when the court dismissed the case and ruled that misidentifying a person as transgender was not actionable defamation and had no harmful effect.
Net Worth
The fitness guru Richard Simmons has amassed a net worth of $15 million, which has been confirmed by reliable sources. His salary is unknown, but it is believed that his net worth comes mainly from his fitness business and the television and radio show he has had in the past.
