Richard Simmons Was Pure Joy

I did not know Richard Simmons, but I loved him nonetheless. Somehow this man, who died at the age of 76 on July 13, 2024, managed to make an indelible impact on generations of Americans in the ’80s and ’90s, and I’m positive it was because he was pure joy to watch.

What set Simmons apart was his pure enthusiasm and belief that anyone could find freedom through movement of their body. I know this because I used to “Sweat to the Oldies” with my mom and whatever VHS of Simmon’s workout she had gotten from Costco recently. As a child of the ’80s, I was, and still am, well-versed in the fitness videos my parent’s generation consumed. Simmons’ was different. It wasn’t about enduring 30 minutes, so you could force your body into a shape; it’s not. Simmons’ message was that this should be fun—everything should be fun. And it was! That man had an infectious joy, and it came across so well in everything he made for us.

Despite what I think we all would like to believe, ’90s pop culture was meaner than it is now. Late-night talk show hosts had no problem making their guests the butt of a joke, and they never quite knew what to do with Simmons.

What I love about the clip above is that you can tell that Simmons is passionate about fitness and never lets a comedic punch land on him, just through sheer force of positivity. I can’t think of another celebrity out there who was like Simmons, who clearly knew that some people tried to make a joke out of his flamboyant personality and (very awesome) public uniform of short shorts and bedazzled tanktops, because he always beat them at their own game by acknowledging the ridiculousness of it all.

The man was hilarious, too. That’s why it felt like he was everywhere in the ’90s, in particular. Check out his turn as a guest on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

In 2024, when it seems like every public figure is terminally online, and has their image manufactured within an inch of their life, the refreshing lack of guile that permeates Simmon’s entire public career is almost incomprehensible. There is nothing curated about his presence, either in his workout videos or in these appearances. Obviously, I didn’t know the man, but given that he’d been in the public eye for almost forty years and had never had a whiff of scandal, we can probably make some assumptions that who he portrayed himself to us, was most likely at least a true representation of at least one part of who he was.

I’m sad Richard Simmons died because it feels like a friend from my childhood died. I’m grateful, though, that he devoted his life to physical fitness as a fun lifestyle (and not to change bodies) and I’m grateful he leaves behind such a wonderful legacy to us all. We should all be so lucky to be thought of as fondly as him when our time comes.