Two LAPD officers showed up to Richard Simmons’ Hollywood Hills home Friday evening after a concerned friend contacted them fearing the Sweatin’ to the Oldies star was in trouble, TMZ reports.
The friend was worried because Simmons hasn’t been seen in almost a year. Afraid the fitness guru was being abused, he emailed the L.A. County D.A.’s Elder Abuse Unit. When officers showed up for a welfare check, Simmons answered the door. He was sporting a long tangly beard.
Police say the 66-year-old was very gracious and appeared to be in good health as he welcomed them into his mansion.
According to TMZ, Simmons went MIA about a year ago, shortly after appearing in this amazing online ad for Bumble Bee tuna. He cut himself off from his friends, stopped going into his Beverly Hills fitness studio, and hasn’t made any public appearances. Friends say this sort of behavior is not like him, and that there is no way Simmons would voluntarily shut himself off like this. They believe something sinister must be going on.
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His manager, however, says Simmons is depressed over a knee injury and that’s why he hasn’t left the house.
Simmons told officers Friday that he was “exhausted” after living the past 30 years in the public eye. “I just want to spend time with myself,” he said. Then he added that he keeps in regular touch with the people who matter most to him.
And as for his fitness studio, “I’ve got people who run things. I don’t need to be there,” he said.
Police say Simmons was walking with a slight limp, which is “consistent with a knee injury.”
Here’s hoping he’s able to pull himself out of this funk.
Get well soon, Richard!
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Queerts: Why are you posting this thread on a Gay site? Are you trying to tell us that Richard Simmons is gay?????
Ladbrook
Poor guy. Even back when I was a teenager, when Simmons was a constant fixture on the talk show circuit, I thought he seemed a bit “off.” Nice, but, well, off. I do hope he’s ok.
Has he ever officially come out, or has he lived his whole like Liberace, Ed Koch, and Kevin Spacey?
Stache99
He probably just wants to live out his remaining days not as the famous closet case.
DarkZephyr
Has it been almost a year since he posted videos of himself in drag?
Merv
I would be very surprised if he’s not bipolar. He seems like the type.
Tackle
He keeps in regular touch, with the people who matters most to him. Ouch!!
hrnpip
@Ladbrook: I don’t think he’s ever officially come out. There have been a lot of questions about it, but I don’t think anyone ever had the nerve to actually ask him directly.
SFHandyman
He is 66. A lot of people retire at 65. With as much exposure as he has had over his life, I’m not surprised he is taking advantage of this time to enjoy being private. A lot of celebrities quit their careers and pulled away from the spotlight completely. He is just doing a Greta Garbo.
I say, enjoy your life Richard, in the way that makes you happy.
jwtraveler
One does not have to utter the words: “I am gay” in order to come out. I think his homosexuality is clear to anyone who knows what homosexuality is. It’s always good to know that people who are aging and live alone have people keeping tabs on them, but no one should wait a year to check on someone they’re concerned about.
Desert Boy
He looks like skin and bones. I hope he gets well and healthy. Poor guy.
DarkZephyr
@Tackle: He means more than just friends and family but also his fans. He keeps in regular contact with them on Facebook.
jantheman4903
it does sound like depression after an injury? but if hes not in immediate danger..hard to do something. will defend him till the end a dear man who was willing to be a joke to help us fat people.
Jacob23
He’s a closet case, who stays in the closet even though there would be zero consequence if he came out. Even worse, he’s a parasite who got rich in part by doing an anti-gay minstrel act.
He has a “comedy routine” that he has been doing for a long time. It involves him acting stereotypically gay in front of a straight man – David Letterman or Jay Leno or some other actor. He’ll dress inappropriately the venue, usually in some clownish outfit. He’ll sit very close to the straight guy and flirt in a way that is guaranteed to earn rejection. The routine reaches its comedic climax when the straight guy delivers that well-deserved rejection, and then mocks him or commits symbolic acts of violence against him – all to the audience’s delight.
David Letterman sprayed him with a fire extinguisher to get him to keep his distance and stop flirting. In a TV commercial, he sashayed down a road in glittering shorts and was run down by a driver. This is all played for laughs as the obviously correct response to the repulsive, overly sexual freak homosexual character that Simmons performs. It is giving permission to gay bash. That’s what this “dear man” does to make money. And as far as I know the “dear man” has never donated a dime of his vast fortune to help LGB youth or to fight for gay civil rights or for marriage equality. Screw him. Sorry to hear he is still around wasting valuable oxygen.
aliengod
Richard has helped many people in his life. I hope things get better for him.
For those of you condemning him for not “coming out”. Who cares! Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t… what’s it matter?
NoCagada
I wouldn’t wish depression nor physical injury on anybody but he has always struck me as creepy…especially, after seeing him many times around LA…in his striped Dolphin shorts 30 years after they were considered “hot”.
myloginname
Richard’s given so much to so many people. I have great admiration for him. He is WAY out there maybe even makes me a wee bit uncomfortable but that’s my issue not his. I hope he gets the time he needs and then hopefully returns to public view because he is so delightful to watch.
Kieran
I can remember the days when gay representation on American TV could be summed up in four words: ‘The Richard Simmons Show’. Between him and the AIDS epidemic it was Spring-time for homophobes in America.
Interestingly, LOGO isn’t running re-runs of ‘The Richard Simmons Show’ which is surprising.
Joe
Richard Simmons has a mansion?
Tackle
@DarkZephyr: I said ouch, because it was a deliberate slap in the face to those who sent the cops there, and who probably thought they were in his inner circle as friends. With that statement, he let it be known, who’s close to him, and who really matters.
Clark35
@Jacob23: All of what you said is true.