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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsRichard Simmons spoke with People on July 11, 2024, two days before he was found dead at age 76. In excerpts later reported by ABC News and TheWrap, he described answering messages, calling people who urgently asked for help, missing his fans, and measuring his life by the people he had helped. The available reports quote selected portions of the conversation; they do not establish that a complete transcript is available.
When the interview took place
Simmons spoke with People on July 11, 2024, the day before his 76th birthday. He was found dead on July 13. ABC News reported the interview date and timing on July 16; Deseret News later reported his death at age 76.
Calling it his “final interview” describes the timing of this reported conversation. The published accounts provide excerpts and summaries, not a verified full transcript. ABC News and TheWrap identify People as the outlet that spoke with him.
What Simmons said about helping people
In excerpts reported by ABC News, Simmons described a daily routine of prayer, work, and responding to people who contacted him. He said he sometimes asked people to send their phone numbers so he could call when a message seemed especially urgent:
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“Today is a beautiful day,” he told the outlet. “But nothing’s really different. I got up this morning. I said my prayers, I counted my blessings, and then I went to work. You know? And writing messages, answering emails — and when the email is real extreme, I ask for their numbers, and I call them.”
ABC News also reported Simmons estimating that he expected to answer “over 100 emails” that day. That was his estimate in the interview, not an independently verified count. Asked how he felt, he said, “I’m feeling great, ’cause I’m helping people.”
How he reflected on retirement and his legacy
Simmons told People that he retired because his body told him he needed to. Looking back on his books and videos, he said he did not focus on his accomplishments as celebrity achievements; he thought instead about how many people he had helped. ABC News quoted him:
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“When I decided to retire, it was because my body told me I needed to retire,” he said. “I have spent time just reflecting on my life. All of the books I wrote, the videos. I never was like, ‘Oh look what I’ve done.’ My thing was, ‘Oh, look how many people I helped.’”
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He also described a contrast between his private temperament and public persona: “People don’t know this, I’m really a shy person and a little bit of an introvert. But when that curtain goes up that’s a different story. I’m there to make people happy.”
What he said about missing fans and going out in disguise
TheWrap reported that Simmons said he missed fans and stayed in touch by phone and email. He also said he sometimes left home in disguise:
“I know people miss me,” he admitted. “And you know what? I miss them, too. But I’m able to reach them through phone calls … and through emails. And I do leave the house sometimes. But I’m in disguise.”
He recalled attending a Jane Fonda workout class in disguise, wearing a brown wig, mustache, glasses, a gray sweatshirt, and heather-gray pants. TheWrap quoted him saying Fonda never realized who he was and calling her an excellent teacher.
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The Broadway project mentioned in the reporting
TheWrap reported that Simmons was working with musician Patrick Leonard on a Broadway show about his life at the time of the interview. Simmons was writing lyrics and Leonard was writing music. The report establishes that the project was in development then; it does not establish a completed production or a later performance schedule.
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What this interview does—and does not—tell us about his legacy
The interview excerpts center on Simmons’s relationships with people who contacted him, his reasons for retiring, and how he understood his work. They are not a complete account of his career. In a separate retrospective, The Atlantic’s Natalia Mehlman Petrzela placed his work in the history of popular fitness culture, describing how he made exercise spaces more welcoming to people often excluded from conventional fitness settings while also noting the limits of a weight-loss-centered approach.
The Atlantic’s discussion of Sweatin’ to the Oldies, his 1988 home-workout video, belongs to that broader retrospective context; the available interview excerpts do not establish that Simmons discussed the video in this final conversation.
Sources and limits
- ABC News reported excerpts from the July 11 interview on July 16, 2024.
- TheWrap reported additional excerpts and the Broadway project on July 15, 2024.
- Deseret News reported that Simmons died on July 13, 2024, at age 76.
- The Atlantic published Natalia Mehlman Petrzela’s retrospective on July 16, 2024.
The quotations here are attributed to Simmons as reproduced by ABC News or TheWrap. Those accounts identify People as the interview outlet, but the original People article was not independently reviewed for this account.
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