'This is a big milestone,' the fitness personality's rep tells ET.
Richard Simmons is doing well! On Simmons' 75th birthday, the fitness personality's rep, Tom Estey, tells ET, "This is a big milestone. I just want to see him happy, which he is."
The 75th birthday update echoes what Simmons' friend told ET back in 2018, on the reclusive fitness guru's 70th birthday.
"He's doing very well. He's his jovial self. He spends most of his time at home and in his yard," the friend said in the rare update. "He keeps up with his reading and does what he wants to do. He deserves this time to himself. Seventy years is a milestone but he doesn't look at it that way."
The friend additionally told ET that Simmons is "always in touch with his family and close friends."
Simmons has been out of the public eye since 2014, when he suddenly stopped teaching at his workout studio. He phoned into the Today show back in 2016 to refute claims that his housekeeper was holding him hostage.
"No one is holding me in my house as a hostage,'' he said at the time. "You know, I do what I want to do as I've always done so people should sort of just believe what I have to say because, like, I'm Richard Simmons!"
"I just sort of wanted to be a little bit of a loner for a little while,'' Simmons said. "You know, I had hurt my knee, and I had some problems with it, and then the other knee started giving me trouble because I've taught like thousands and thousands of classes, and you know right now I just want to sort of take care of me."
He added to the morning show, "I just really don't want to do anything."
"I just don't want to be traveling anymore," he said. "It certainly has taken its toll on me, so it was not like over a day, it was just over some time."
He also addressed his fans directly, telling them, "For all the people that were worrying about me, I want to tell them that I love them with my whole heart and soul and that not to worry, Richard's fine. You haven't seen the last of me. I'll come back, and I'll come back strong."
The next year, the Missing Richard Simmons podcast debuted, sparking renewed speculation about the fitness star's whereabouts.
A month after the podcast concluded, Simmons was hospitalized for "severe indigestion," taking to Facebook after the incident to reassure his fans of his good health.
“By now you know that I’m not 'missing,' just a little under the weather," he wrote at the time. "I'm sure I will be feeling good and back home in a couple of days."
Several days later, he posted again to Facebook, thanking the police and medical professionals for their help in the incident.
Last year, after a documentary aired addressing rumors of Simmons' whereabouts, he spoke out on Facebook, writing a message to his fans directly.
"Thank you, everyone, for your kindness and love!" he wrote at the time, in response to the documentary. He signed his message "Love, Richard."
Around the same time, Estey told The New York Post, "Richard is eternally grateful for the continuous outpouring of love and gratitude he has received from across the globe. He is happy, healthy and living the life he has chosen to live."
Meanwhile, Simmons' manager, Michael Catalano, told People, "He was moved by the reaction to the special and all the good wishes that he received. He was encouraged by the kindness."
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