I can’t believe Richard Simmons’ final act was to try and get trump once and for all.
I’d recommend the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. It’s a miniseries that discusses his legacy and influence. It’s well worth the listen.
A little story about why Richard Simmons became a fitness and diet guru. He was in the Frederico Fellini film Satyricon and he was fat. A fan wrote to him and said, “fat people die young, Richard. Please don’t die.” He took it to heart and his relentless positivity became an inspiration to so many people.
Here he was in Satyricon.
That’s wild, would estimate that kind of messaging has a low success rate based on the “fat people KNOW THEY’RE FAT!!” exasperation I see.
How wonderful someone said the thing that worked for him. Gotta watch that classic Who’s Line? clip someone linked if you haven’t seen it.
I think it probably does have a low success rate. Very few people can be shamed by strangers into making such a big change in their lives… But it probably has a higher success rate for someone who wants to be in movies and TV since body image is a big deal there as is looking healthy.
Anyway, I am glad that, whatever the reason, he became the delightful person we will remember him as.
And yes, the Who’s Line episode he was in was a real classic. I wasn’t a huge fan of the American version of the show, but that one is undeniably just hilariously funny.
Missing Richard Simmons is a fascinating podcast from… Jesus Christ, seven years ago 💀
It covers the influence of Richard, and his sudden and complete withdrawal from public life in 2014.
He seemed to give of himself almost compulsively for most of his life.
I hope his final years were peaceful and joyous.
