American professional fitness coach, Richard Simmons was such a welcome energy-filled person on media. He was a common face on various TV shows in the 1980s and 1990s. But he has not been seen outside his Beverly Hills house since 2014. Where is he?

The energetic Richard Simmons

Richard Simmons, 75 was so full of energy and known for his flamboyant and eccentric personality. He had a lot of aerobic videos and used to advocate weight loss programs.

Richard, the fitness coach was very much in public eyes in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a regular guest on daytime and late night TV shows such as The Howard Stern show and Late Show with David Letterman. Besides, workout videos, he has published a number of cookbooks and diet books and also has done several infomercials.

Richard’s VHS tape “Sweatin’ To The Oldies” released in 1987 and has grossed over USD 200 million until now. And then in 2014, he seemed to have suddenly vanished. Where is Richard? Why is he missing?

Speculations on the reason of missing Richard

When Richard made a sudden vanishing act in 2014, no one saw him outside of his Beverly Hills ever since. His fans were worried and started digging out the reasons for it. There were rumors that his housekeeper had held him hostage. But, Richard gave an audio interview to The Today show denying this rumor. In November 2016, his fitness gym downed it’s shutters and Richard made no official announcement on it.

In March 2017, the Los Angeles police carried out a welfare check on him. They said:

“He is perfectly fine. And right now he is doing what he wants to do and it is his business.”

In April the same year, he took ill and posted on his Facebook:

“I’m not ‘missing’, just a little under the weather”

But the picture with the post was an old 2013 picture of him. Did someone else put up the post on his behalf?

TMZ documentary stated that Richard had some knee problems and has was not seen outside his house. It’s editor, Fabian Garcia said:

“Something that happened to him at birth is directly connected to his disappearance — a birth defect that significantly affected one of his legs,”

The documentary added that he has emotional issues and eats a lot leading to weight gain and further deterioration of his knee problems.

In August 2022, Richard told New York Post:

“I am happy, healthy, and living the life I have chosen to live.”

In July 2023, on his 75th birthday, his representative told ET:

“This is a big milestone. I just want to see him happy, which he is.”

Sexuality and gender reassignment surgery

People wondered about his sexuality since he has never spoken about it and also had no girlfriends, relationships, partners, or wife. He told Men’s Health in 2012:

“When the king gets depressed, he doesn’t call for his wife or the cook. He turns to the little man with the pointed hat and says to the court jester “make me laugh”. And I am that court jester.”

Several media outlets claimed that Richard has undergone a gender reassignment surgery. He is now a woman called Fiona. In May 2017, Richard filed a case against Radar Online, National Enquirer, and American Media, Inc. stating that they were making false claims against him. But in September 2017, the court ruled in favor of the media outlets.

The judge said:

“…Because courts have long held that a misidentification of certain immutable characteristics do not naturally tend to injure one’s reputation, even if there is sizeable portion of the population who hold prejudices against those characteristics, misidentification of a person as transgender is not actionable defamation absent special damages.”

He had to pay compensation equivalent to the money the media houses paid for hiring an attorney in defence.

Short bio on Richard Simmons

Richard Simmons is an American fitness coach. More bio…

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