Richard Simmons Net worth, where is he now, is he gay, dead or alive?
Daniel Moore
Published May 23, 2026
Few know that fitness guru Richard Simmons was actually overweight and frustrated with a fad diet during his formative years. His career as a fitness expert built on his youth and he has since created a handful of aerobics DVDs and books. In particular, he founded the Richard Simmons Fitness center to help people who want to lose those extra pounds.
Throughout his fitness career, Richard has continued to preach health and fitness through the few mediums he has created, he has appeared on TV shows and even started his own privately known TV show. under the name of Richard Simmons Show. He experienced a change of course in 2008 and became active on the political front. Richard was supportive of a bill called the No Child Left Behind Act, which sought to make physical education non-competitive for public schools.
Where is Richard Simmons now, dead or alive?
Richard made his last public appearance in February 2014 and after a few years in March 2016 people started speculating that the fitness guy was being held hostage at his house by his housekeeper. Richard himself denied the rumors in an audio interview which aired on Today Show on March 14, but without any public announcement from him, the Simmons Fitness Gym closed in November of that year. His unannounced disappearance resulted in a podcast titled Missing Richard Simmons, which sparked investigations into his sudden exit from public view in February 2017.
Rumors and speculation led LAPD detectives to visit the fitness guru’s home in March 2017. After performing a wellness check, they released a statement claiming that Richard was safe and that whatever he wants to do with his time is absolutely his affair. Following his hospitalization with a case of severe indigestion, Richard posted a Facebook post on April 19, 2017, with the caption, “I’m not ‘out there, just a bit under the weather’ but people have claimed that the post could have been taken by someone impersonating him since the photo used in the post was a bit old.
Another facet of speculation claimed that he disappeared to undergo sex reassignment surgery which resulted in a lawsuit between Richard and some media outlets. There is every indication that the fitness freak appears to be alive as, in June 2018, he filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles private investigator for installing tracking devices in his vehicle. He even surfaced the following month to amend the complaint, saying the investigator worked for In Touch Weekly.
Is Richard Simmons gay?
The many questions surrounding Richard’s sexual orientation will surely find answers in his odd behavior and lifestyle. According to the fitness manager, it has a lot to offer people but doesn’t have much to offer one person, that’s certainly ambiguous. Also, he lives alone with only two staff members and three Dalmatians. His lifestyle brought his sexuality into question, but he himself never openly disclosed his sexuality. So we can’t say categorically whether he’s gay or straight.
Along with the fitness icon’s lifestyle, his age is another fact that made people think Richard might not be right after all. According to their calculations, the fact that a septuagenarian is still single and he has never had a romantic relationship with the opposite sex makes little sense. Rumor has it on the street that Moreso was involved in 1992 with a Swiss porn star, Daniel Holt. His name was also linked to executioner Bruce Headrick in the 80s.
Even when Richard faded from the public eye in 2014, rumors swirled that he was undergoing reconstruction surgery to change his gender. In fact, Richard had to sue American Media, Inc., National Enquirer and Radar Online, defenders of the news from defamatory publications. He later lost the case when the court overturned the case, holding that misidentification of a transgender person could not be prosecuted. defamation and has no harmful effect.
Net value
The fitness guru has amassed a mouth-watering net worth of $15 million, confirmed by reliable sources. His salary is unknown, but his net worth is believed to come mainly from his fitness activity and the TV and radio shows he had in the past.