American fitness guru Richard Simmons hospitalised with ‘indigestion’

THE world has become obsessed with American fitness guru and why he decided to disappear from public life. Now he’s suddenly been hospitalised.

AMERICAN fitness guru Richard Simmons has reportedly been hospitalised for “severe indigestion”.

“Richard Simmons was hospitalised on Monday at an undisclosed location in California,” his spokesman Michael Catalano told US ABC News.

“After a few days of battling severe indigestion and discomfort while eating, we agreed it was best for him to seek treatment. He’s already feeling better and is expected to make a full recovery,” Mr Catalano said.

Simmons, 68, has not been seen since 2014, when he mysteriously withdrew from public life. His disappearance has been explored in the hit podcast Missing Richard Simmons, which examines why this flamboyant, publicity-happy man would suddenly retreat from his friends and family. Simmons has beeny holed up in his LA mansion and has stopped seeing his close friends and clients, some of whom he used to speak to everyday.

There has been intense media speculation about Simmons’s wellbeing — including theories that he is being held hostage by his housekeeper — since the podcast debuted at number one on the iTunes charts in February.

But both Simmons’ brother Lenny and local police say the star is “doing great” and simply “needs some time for himself”.

“I talked to him on Sunday, he was doing great. He was asking about our renovations to our home. And we had just gone to see the Broadway musical, Beautiful,” Lenny told Entertainment Tonight in March.

“We talk every Sunday. He calls me and we have a great conversation and then he talks to my wife. He probably talks to my wife longer than he talks to me.

“After all those years, I don’t know how he did it. He was on 24/7, at least. ... People were always calling him and he was always good enough to want to talk to them,” he said.

Lenny also dismissed suggestions that housekeeper Teresa Reveles has anything but Simmons’s best interests at heart.

“Teresa is a very lovely lady. She has been a good friend of my brother for over 20 some odd years,” Lenny said.

“It stresses me to hear that people think that she is holding him hostage or that she is mean. She isn’t. She is a very nice person.

“My brother certainly deserves his vacation. I certainly cannot fault him for wanting to do that.

“I would just hope people [can] be a little bit more respectful and realise that he’s worked hard and he still loves people — but he needs some time for himself.”

The Los Angeles Police also paid a visit to Simmons recently and told People magazine that he is happy and healthy.

“There was something about his housekeeper holding him hostage and not allowing people to see him and preventing him from making phone calls and it was all garbage and that’s why we went out to see him. None of it is true,” the LAPD’s Detective Kevin Becker said.

“The fact of the matter is we went out and talked to him he is fine, nobody is holding him hostage. He is doing exactly what he wants to do. If he wants to go out in public or see anybody he will do that,” Detective Becker said.

“He is perfectly fine and he is very happy. I don’t know what he is going to do, but right now he is doing what he wants to do and it is his business.”

The podcast is hosted by journalist Dan Taberski, who attended some of Simmons’s exercise classes, and has been criticised by some for violating the privacy of a man who clearly wants to be left alone.

Last month, The New York Times published an op-ed titled ‘Missing Richard Simmons’: The Morally Suspect Podcast, which questioned Mr Taberski’s motives as a “concerned friend”.

“As Mr Taberski digs deeper into Mr Simmons’s personal life, the question becomes not ‘What happened to Richard Simmons?’ but ‘Is it any of our business?’,” The Times asked.

“While Serial [the hit podcast from the creators of This American Life] dug into a serious crime and possible miscarriage of justice, Mr Taberski instead relentlessly pesters Mr Simmons and friends for personal details pertaining to his mental and physical health.

“It’s not quite a public shaming; Mr Taberski is careful to express respect for Mr Simmons. Call it a public hounding.”

Originally published as American fitness guru Richard Simmons hospitalised with ‘indigestion’