For years, short shorts-wearing '80s fitness icon Richard Simmons became known for his "Sweatin' to the Oldies" aerobics videos and high-energy personality and positivity. He made appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman and other shows. Then more than three years ago, he seemed to disappear from the public eye.
The 68-year-old's absence has sparked concern over the well-being. In 2016, following a New York Daily News article that suggested Simmons was in ill health and controlled by his housekeeper, the fitness guru said in a phone interview on the Today show that he suffered from knee problems and that it was his decision to withdraw from public life, adding that he wanted to "be a little bit of a loner for a little while." He also said his housekeeper had worked for him for 30 years and that they were almost like a "married couple."
Los Angeles police recently conducted a welfare check at Simmons' home and said he is "perfectly fine and happy."
Meanwhile, interest in the fitness guru, including among those who had never heard of him, has increased due to Dan Taberski's podcast, Missing Richard Simmons. Taberski used to be a regular at Simmons' Slimmons exercise studio in Beverly Hills and documents his journey as he tries to find his friend. The studio closed last year after 42 years.
Here are seven things you may not know about Richard Simmons:
1. He Brought His Positive Energy to New Heights on TV: In 2011, Simmons filmed a commercial for Air New Zealand, which is known for its viral pop culture-oriented ads. He leads a mock dance class on a plane while explaining safety procedures.
2. ...and in Real Life: In 2012, Simmons flew on a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City to attend the Move Into Fall event, sponsored by North Kansas City Hospital.
A source told E! News exclusively he was as boisterous as ever; He chatted with fellow passengers, asking them about their lives and talking celebrity crushes (Richard Gere was mentioned), and taking selfies.
"Mid-flight, he also proceed to put on rubber gloves and cleaned a lavatory, saying, 'Someone pooped up here and didn't flush or clean up after themselves," the source said. "He then he took a basket of snacks from a flight attendant and wandered up and down the aisle, telling people to eat healthier."
3. He Was Raised Religious: Simmons was born in New Orleans to a Jewish mother and an Episcopalian father. He himself converted to Catholicism at age 7 and spent almost two years in a Dominican seminary in Iowa after high school.
"The religious upbringing was very important because it's an extension of what I do," he told The Chicago Tribune in 1984. "I may not be performing my exercises in a church, but my exercise studios are a religious experience. I think religion is improvement, discipline, self-respect, self-esteem -- and I believe I give those things when I teach a class. I may not be in a pulpit and I may not be in a long black robe, but I still think I'm doing something for humanity.
4. He Tried to Become a Doctor and a Priest: "It wasn't for me, it just wasn't for me," he told The Chicago Tribune. "But, see, as a child, I thought the two most important things you could be in life were a doctor or a priest because they got so much respect and love and they saved lives and they saved souls. And I tried both. I went to Europe and I tried med school, and that wasn't for me either—dead bodies, blood, arteries."
"You have to understand, in certain careers, you have to look like an attorney or you have to look like a doctor," he said. "I didn't look anything like a priest. I was 240 pounds at the time; I had long curly brown hair. I was rather on the loud side. I mean, there was nothing calm or poetic about this mouth of mine. So, I mean, everything I did was wrong, it seemed. It wasn't my kind of lifestyle."
5. He Loves Dalamations: Simmons has owned several of the years and even has a bronze statue of a Dalmatian at his Hollywood Hills home.
6. He's Dabbled in Acting: Simmons has made appearances on shows such as General Hospital and the '90s family series Dinosaurs and has voiced characters on Disney's animated Hercules and Fish Hooks series.
7. His Mission in Life... "I dream of just helping people," Simmons said on The Howard Stern Show about nine years ago. "I do it every single day until the rest of my life until I die. That is my life. That is my mission."
In 2014, Simmons, who often gets emotional in interviews, broke down in tears talking to CNN's Brooke Baldwin about the biggest compliment he's gotten.
"That I just simply made them laugh and that I gave them hope," he said. "Because with hope, you can cope."