Richard Simmons Biography

Richard Simmons is a fitness personality who is as famous for his fitness programs and videos as he is for his energetic and rather eccentric personality. With his unconventional looks paired with a flamboyant style of speaking, he is an unlikely celebrity who rose to fame with his own show ‘The Richard Simmons Show’. Simmons primarily caters to over-weight people and motivates them to shed all those extra kilos in a healthy manner. Growing up as an obese youngster, he knows the problems of being overweight too intimately. In a hurry to lose weight, he did so in an unhealthy way and lost much of his hair as well. This incident motivated him to encourage others to lose weight by shedding kilos in a phased, healthy manner so that no other unpleasant side effects arise. He was very disgusted by the diet fads and unhealthy routines followed by people which led to their excessive weight gain. To add to their woes, most of the gyms during his younger days catered to the already-fit people and not to the obese ones who actually needed them. So he started his own gym designed especially for obese people, called Slimmons in Beverly Hills. The innovative nature of the gym led to media exposure that eventually made him a celebrity of sorts.