Richard Simmons Net Worth: How Rich is the Fitness Guru?

Richard Simmons is an American semi-retired fitness personality, actor, and public figure. He is best known for his flamboyant, energetic, and eccentric personality. Simmons opened his gym named Slimmons in Beverly Hills and started his weight-loss career catering mainly to the overweight. He suddenly stopped teaching at his workout studio in 2014 and disappeared publicly. As of 2023, Richard Simmons net worth is roughly around $20 million.

Full Name
Milton Teagle Richard Simmons

Birthday
July 12, 1948

Birthplace
New Orleans, Louisiana

Profession
Fitness instructor

Relationship Status
Single

Net Worth
$20 million

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Early Life

Richard Simmons Net Worth & Career

Personal Life

Richard Simmons Net Worth

Early Life

Richard Simmons was born on the 12th of July, 1948 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was born to Leonard Douglas and Shirley May. Both his parents used to work in the show business. He has two elder brothers, Leonard and Leonard Jr. Richard studied at Cor Jesu High School. Later, he attended Florida State University and completed his graduation.

In his early childhood and adolescence days, he was obese. At 4 years of age or earlier, he started to overeat and hence became overweight. He weighed around 182 pounds when he was 15. Richard appeared as a freak show character in the movies Satyricon and The Clowns. Later, he reached a peak in his weight after he weights around 268 pounds.

Richard Simmons Net Worth & Career

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Initially, he served as the maitre d’hotel at a restaurant, Derek’s in the 1970s. There, he discovered an interest in fitness. He eventually established gyms where he was able to lose 123 pounds. Afterward, he started his own exercise studio, The Anatomy Asylum, where a major focus was given to healthy eating and enjoyable exercise. The studio initially had a salad bar restaurant, which was later removed to focus solely on exercise.

Richard then renamed the studio to Simmons and continued operations in Beverly Hills. He use to teach aerobics and run motivational classes throughout the week. However, the studio was unexpectedly closed in November 2016. In the course of his fitness career, he has helped many people lose extreme weight for 35 years. He himself has lost more than 100 pounds in 42 years, which he revealed in 2010.

Due to his popularity, he was drawing attention on social media. Later on, he was featured on the reality series, Real People. In the series, he introduced his clients whom he helped to lose weight. Following that, he made many guest appearances on the TV shows such as “Battlestars”, “Super Password”, “Hollywood Squares (syndicated”, “Price Is Right” and “Nickelodeon’s Figure It Out”. Additionally, he also got a recurring role in the popular daytime series “General Hospital” for over a 4 year period.

Simmons has not made his public appearance since February 2014. His absence has also been the subject of the “Missing Richard Simmons” podcast. Lately, he has become the subject of the TMZ documentary “What Really Happened to Richard Simmons”. The docuseries premiered on Fox on August 22, 2022. In the 45-minute documentary, his fellow fitness star, Suzanne Somers, writer, Bruce Vilanch, and Dr. Phil were interviewed.

Fox’s documentary is based on his past interviews which are made from the combination of footage from the peak of his fame, TV appearances, conventions, and fan interactions in public. His interviews detailed that he suffered bullying in his childhood and his relationship with food that led him to lose 137 pounds. In the process of losing weight, he nearly died.

The documentary ultimately came to the conclusion that he left the public eye due to a double knee replacement that had an effect on his ability to exercise and his desire to retire. Dr. Phil also stated that his sudden disappearance aligns with his personality type as people with extreme personalities like Simmons tend to make extreme changes.

Personal Life

Richard Simmons has never been married and lived all his life single. Though, he was intertwined with Swiss port star, Daniel Holt in 1992. Along with Daniel, he was also linked with a gay hustler, Bruce Headrick in the 80s. Nevertheless, there is no further detail available about his link-up with Holt and Headrick.

Simmons sued two tabloid publications in 2017 that alleged a false claim about him going through gender reassignment. However, he lost the lawsuit in September 2017 and had to pay the defendant’s attorney’s fees. Richard sued a Los Angels private investigator in June 2018 who had reportedly placed a tracking device on his only vehicle for over a year. His lawsuit was ordered to move forward by a California appellate court in May 2020.