Fitness guru Richard Simmons dead at 76, U.S. media outlets report

Fitness guru Richard Simmons has died at the age of 76, multiple media outlets reported, including ABC News and TMZ.

The reports said his housekeeper found him unresponsive on Saturday morning and Los Angeles police were called. TMZ reported that police were treating it as a natural death.

Los Angeles police and fire departments told The Associated Press that they responded to a Los Angeles house, where a man was declared dead from natural causes. Neither provided a name, but AP matched the address and age to Simmons through public records.

Born Milton Teagle “Richard” Simmons, the flamboyant fitness instructor became a household name and pioneered gyms as safe places for people who weren’t already in perfect shape. He revealed in a series of social media posts this year that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer.

Simmons, who grew up in the French quarter of New Orleans before settling in California, weighed 268 pounds when he graduated from high school, his website said.

His own story of struggling with weight loss, where he tried everything from fad diets to laxatives before settling on exercise and better lifestyle choices, inspired millions to do the same.