Richard Simmons was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Simmons was the younger of two sons, born to show business parents and raised Catholic in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Cor Jesu High School (now Brother Martin High School). He was obese throughout his adolescence and by the time he graduated from high school, he weighed 268 pounds.

His first job, in New Orleans, was selling pralines at Leah's. After starting college at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, he transferred to Florida State University. While enrolled there, he studied as an exchange student in Florence, Italy. He graduated with a BA in Art. After graduation, Simmons moved to New York City where he worked in advertising, as a waiter, and for cosmetics companies Revlon and Coty Cosmetics.

Upon moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s, Simmons worked as the Maître d' at Derek's, a restaurant in Beverly Hills. He developed an interest in fitness, but was dissatisfied with the unhealthy fad diet methods and the established gyms and exercise studios of the day which favored the already fit customer. It was his interest in fitness that helped him lose .

Simmons later opened his own exercise studio, originally called The Anatomy Asylum, where emphasis was placed on healthy eating in proper portions and enjoyable exercise. The business originally included a salad bar restaurant called "Ruffage," (the name a pun on the word Roughage), though it was eventually removed as the focus of the Asylum shifted solely to exercise. Now called Slimmons, the establishment continues operations in Beverly Hills, and Simmons teaches motivational classes and aerobics throughout the week.

On February 16, 2010, Simmons appeared on the Dr. Oz Show. At that time it was stated that Simmons has kept off his own 100+ pound weight loss for 42 years, has been helping others lose weight for 35 years, and that in the course of his fitness career has helped humanity lose approximately 3,000,000 pounds. Simmons now uses the web as a method of outreach by running his own membership based website, and also indicates on his home page that he has established official pages on numerous social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube.

Media appearances

With his health club a success, Simmons began to draw media attention, beginning with an appearance on the television show Real People where he was shown at work. He introduced customers whom he had helped to lose weight. He later made guest appearances on the celebrity game shows Win, Lose or Draw and Nickelodeon's Figure It Out.

Positive viewer reaction landed Simmons a recurring role as himself on the American soap opera General Hospital, over a four-year period. This in turn led to further media notoriety, as well as personal appearances in shopping malls, where he taught exercise classes. In the early 1980s, Simmons hosted two shows; Slim Cookin, and an Emmy Award winning talk show, The Richard Simmons Show, in which he focused on personal health, fitness, exercise, and healthy cooking.

Simmons has appeared as himself on numerous TV shows, including Whose Line Is It Anyway?, CHiPs, Saturday Night Live, and on an episode of Arrested Development, "Bringing Up Buster". In 1999, he hosted a short lived TV show called DreamMaker. Eight years later he filmed a pledge drive special for PBS, called Love Yourself And Win.

Simmons has been featured in TV advertisements for Sprint, Yoplait, Herbal Essence Shampoos, and toward the end of 2007, he appeared in a "This is SportsCenter" commercial on ESPN as the show's "conditioning coach." In Canada, Simmons appeared in an advertisement for Simmons mattresses. The mattress company hired the exercise celebrity because of the similarity in name, and for his appeal to the company's target audience of women over 35. Beyond this, there is no further business partnership between the two.

For three years, he hosted a radio show on Sirius Stars, Sirius Satellite Radio channel 102, called Lighten Up with Richard Simmons The show is no longer in production.

• Simmons was a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show in the 1990s. He refused to appear after Stern insulted him one too many times. Simmons finally reappeared on Stern's show on November 16, 2006 where Stern made him run out of the studio crying hysterically.
• Simmons was also a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) and The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS). Richard Simmons (I) On November 22, 2000, they had a falling out after an incident that occurred on that night's show. Simmons (while dressed as a turkey) was sprayed in the face by Letterman with a fire extinguisher after Simmons grabbed Letterman as if to hug or kiss him, causing Simmons to have a severe asthma attack. Simmons did not appear on the Letterman show for six years, finally returning on November 29, 2006. During that appearance, Letterman once again set Simmons up for a prank. While Richard Simmons was demonstrating a steamer branded with his name, Letterman insisted on placing a tray under the steamer which Simmons did not believe belonged there. When Simmons turned the steamer on, something in the tray exploded and caught fire. Though initially scared, Simmons took the incident in fairly good nature, even joking that he "felt like Michael Jackson" (referring to a mishap where Jackson's hair was set on fire by a pyrotechnics accident). Richard Simmons Steamer: richard simmons exploding steamer hilarious david letterman clip
• Simmons also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He and Leno went door-to-door to market Simmons' health program, only to have people spew as many insults at him as they could.
• Simmons has been a guest on the US version of Whose Line is it Anyway?. the show. One notable impersonation was during a game of Weird Newscasters, when Wayne Brady was to do the sports news in the style of Simmons.
• Simmons has appeared multiple times on The Glenn Beck Program on Fox News Channel.

Personality

Simmons is noted for his flamboyant, high-energy, motivational demeanor, an attribute he uses to help encourage people to lose weight. His high energy level is always featured in his workout videos. His trademark attire is candy-striped Dolfin shorts and tank tops decorated with Swarovski crystals.

Simmons is known for interacting at a personal level with people using his products. This began by personally answering fan mail he received as a cast member of General Hospital. Simmons still personally answers emails and letters, and makes hundreds of phone calls each week to those who seek his help. He also talked to people on the air during his radio show, and holds weekly live chats in the "clubhouse" area of his website. His appearances also include a "meet and greet" time, so that people can speak to him one on one.

Simmons claims to have few friends, saying "I don't have a lot to offer one person. I have a lot to offer to a lot of people." Aside from his three Dalmatians and two maids, Simmons lives alone in the Hollywood Hills. Although there has been frequent speculation about his sexual orientation Simmons has never publicly discussed his sexuality.

Hurricane Katrina response

In September 2005 Simmons appeared on Entertainment Tonight to discuss the effects of Hurricane Katrina on his family in his hometown of New Orleans and his involvement in aiding those affected by the hurricane. On August 29, 2006 Simmons appeared on Your World with Neil Cavuto while making a return visit to New Orleans one year after the flooding, a visit he repeated on March 2, 2007, now talking about his recent trip to Washington D.C. to promote and raise awareness about The Strengthening Physical Education Act of 2007 (bill HR 1224).

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