Jane Fonda. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Jane Fonda paid a touching tribute to fellow ‘80s fitness icon, Richard Simmons, who passed away over the weekend. He was 76.
“Richard Simmons always wanted people to feel good and be happy,” Fonda, 86, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, July 14, alongside a photo of the pair smiling together. “He would go out of his way to make people happy. I often wondered if maybe nobody had made him happy when he was a little boy.”
Fonda described Simmons, who died on Saturday, July 13, as a “generous” person, who “gave of himself, of his time, to make people happy.” She recalled, “He once popped out of a huge cake at the launch of some Jane Fonda WORKOUT event. That was generous.” Fonda, like Simmons, was an icon of 1980s workout videos and fitness.
In her post, the Grace and Frankie actress recalled an instance where Simmons “found out I was in a store where he was, so he quickly bought some small trinket and ran across the store, shouting at the top of his lungs in that unmistakable voice, to let me know he was coming.” She said, “That was generous.”
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Fonda continued, “I saw him last when I took him and a boyfriend of his to lunch at the Polo Lounge. The relationship was new and he was proud. I never saw or heard from him again and, like many thousands of others, I’ve mourned his absence from my life.”
Fonda, like many others, lost contact with Simmons when he stopped making public appearances and teaching at his workout studio in February 2014. He then quickly withdrew from public life almost entirely. “I hope he felt the love so many were sending him these last years,” Fonda’s post concluded. “I hope it made him happy. I read he died peacefully in his sleep in his very white home. Rest in Peace, Dear Richard.”
Richard Simmons Evan Hurd/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images
Simmons’ seemingly abrupt disappearance from the public eye was the subject of the “Missing Richard Simmons” podcast and a 2022 Hulu documentary called TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened to Richard Simmons. In 2016, he called into the Today show to clarify rumors that he was being held hostage in his Beverly Hills home.
“You know, I do what I want to do as I’ve always done, so people should sort of just believe what I have to say because, like, I’m Richard Simmons!” he said at the time. “Right now, I just sort of want to take care of me. I just really don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to be traveling anymore … it’s taken a toll on me.”
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Simmons died in his Los Angeles home on Saturday morning, one day after his 76th birthday. He was pronounced dead by authorities on the scene, and his death is believed to be from natural causes.
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The wellness guru, who was diagnosed with skin cancer in March, had been posting on his official Facebook page up until his birthday on Friday, July 12, where he thanked fans who had sent him well wishes.
“Thank you,” he wrote via Facebook. “I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life! I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday.” Another post, apparently written early on Saturday morning, read: “Hello gorgeous! Please don’t rain on my parade.”
Simmons was perhaps best known for his weight-loss programs and line of aerobics videos, Sweatin’ to the Oldies. His flamboyant personality was often parodied by comedians, and he was a frequent guest on talk shows like The Late Show with David Letterman.