DEATH NOTICE: RICHARD SIMMONS

Yeah - this one is kind of sad .... I first heard of Richard Simmons in Senior High/College .... it was the summer inbetween, I think ...

My mom was a HUGE ABC Soap opera geek - she ONLY watched "Ryan's Hope", "All My Children", "One Life To Live", and "General Hospital" (I want to say there was one more before RH started but I could be wrong) ...
And so in the afternoon, 2pm our time, General Hospital would come on air ... and suddenly there was this guy.

He reminded me very much of a good friend of mine - I knew him since we were in diapers - a little "quirky" - I didn't quite understand wat "gay" was yet - but very ... confident in himself.  And ... very caring towards others.

So, while not surprised, I am a tad saddened to hear of his passing.

He grew up in New Orleans, and was always a chubby kid ... he then became a large adult ... and one day, while out shopping (if I remember it from his book correctly) he returned to his car to find a note under his windshield wiper.

It said, "Fat people die. Please don't die"
He said he had no idea who it was that put it there, but I'm guessing he found out over time.

But it was enough to put him on a journey to good eating and exercise -- good health actually didn't turn up until later, thank you.

He found that MOST gyms in New Orleans couldn't, or wouldn't, help him because he wasn't fit enough to take any of the classes they offered, and he needed.
Most of the trainers wouldn't take him on as a client, one would assume for liability reasons -- it's kind of hard to keep a client when another one has died while doing a work out - but whatever happened, he figured it out.

And opened his OWN work-out studio ... for large people - mostly women, but not only women - and he cared for them ALL!

The routes he took to try to lose his weight weren't healthy at all ... fad diets ... starvation diets ...
He even LOST HIS HAIR prematurely from one of those starvation diets ... I think he said he even went jaundice at one point, or something like that.

Anyways - from that point he got the business going ... found someone who would work with him ...
And then got a gig doing work-out spots on General Hospital ... right during the show ...
I'm betting one of the cast members or behind the scenes people found out about him and gave him that boost.

And a STAR wa born!

I remember running out and buying his workout book - which had the story of his health journey - and began to do some of his exercises.

I would even get up early in the mornings to catch "The Richard Simmons Show" which had guests, food talk, recipes, and at the end, a short work out, just enough to get me ready for classes.

But being a college freshman, I found myself simply ... well ... not doing it.
I wasn't too large (although I was a Misses size 16 at the time) ... but simply walking around the campus all day, 5 days a week, made me tone up and lose weight without trying, but I was eating a LOT more than in high school (I dropped to a size 6 after my first year)

Then they cancelled his show ... sad.
But his work-out tapes began selling in infomercials ... I didn't buy any, of course - mostly because I didn't have the extra money ... college kid, remember?

And then the DEAL A MEAL came out, and a NEW show.

My issue with the Deal-A-Meal was ... it didn't seem to take many allergies into consideration.
For instance, my youngest is allergic to "wheat" (not Celiac, just plain allergy that acts like Celiac .... but that's a whole different story)
But nearly EVERY suggestion they offered in the DAM had wheat in it at one point or another.

Don't get me wrong - eggs, milk, fish, nuts - those were easy enough to get away from, but other things weren't.  And perhaps it was just something they hadn't thought of.

I remember seeing Richard Simmons on QVC, I think, maybe some other cable show - selling his Deal A Meal system and doodads ...

Oh I wanted to try those doodads so much ... but again, no money ... and I was still iving with my PARENTS at this time.

Then he just quietly walked away ...
Gone ...

Then the next thing I knew ... about 10-15 years later ... possibly more ... probably more - he showed up on Daveid Letterman's show quite a lot (although, David made u=fun of him - once to the point of where Richard vowed never to come back, supposedly)

He showed up on "Whose Line is it Anyways" - the Drew Carey version - and was .... HILARIOUS ... even though he seemed to make light of who, what he was.

You see - until his mother passed away ... and until he was out of the "spsotlight", he couldn't admit to ... himself, much less the public ... that he was ... gay.

He, like my afore mentioned friend, grew up in a strict Catholic home.
During the time when being gay was extremely frowned upon ... and I'm sure both of these guys wouldn't have cared really how the Church looked upon them ... but their MOTHERS ... now that's a different story.
My understanding is that Richard's mother was very loving and caring  for her children (might explain Richard being 250 lbs as a teenager), but my firend's mom, well let's just say she sided with the Church for as long as I knew her.

Anyways ... Saturday 12 July 2024 ... Richard Simmons passed away.  In his home.  In Los Angeles.

He was 76 years old ... he died the day after his birthday.

Rest In Peace Richard ... Rock the Heavens to some good music!!