Richard Simmons once received mysterious note that led former ‘fat model’ to ‘picture food as enemy’

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Believe it or not, Richard Simmons’ fitness journey started with an anonymous note!

The fitness guru, who died aged 76 on July 13, was known for his enthusiastic aerobics training and affable personality. 

Simmons, who was born as Milton Teagle Simmons, carved his path to fame by focusing on a healthy lifestyle and fitness goals. But he didn't have such a healthy beginning.

Richard Simmons struggled with weight management at one point

While it may sound preposterous, even Richard Simmons - known for his healthy lifestyle and toned physique - once struggled with obesity and eating disorders.

When he was just a 15-year-old boy, his weight had soared to 182 lbs. However, that wasn’t all, as the 169 cm (5ft 6 inches)-tall fitness guru was 268 lbs at his heaviest. 

Simmons revealed in his 1999 memoir ‘Still Hungry After All These Years', that he realized he was bigger than all the other boys of his age when his mother took him shopping once, per Daily Mail.

When the salesman pointed him toward the husky-sized clothes, the unassuming Simmons thought he confused the salesperson into thinking he was getting a dog.

The fitness enthusiast recalled in his memoir, “The salesman overheard me and laughed... 'You don't understand; husky is a size in clothing for boys who are bigger than average'.”

Simmons, who changed his name to Richard when he was just 11, also revealed in his memoir that he was bullied in school. 

His friend Antoinette DiPiazza once told People, “You could always tell sometimes at school when he was younger he would try to hold back tears. I felt for him, the boys would just pick up on him because of his weight and during gym class and stuff.”

After he graduated from Florida State University, he went to Italy for further studies in art. 

Per the New York Times, in Europe, he was working as a “fat model.” However, there came a time when his life turned completely upside down after he received a mysterious note from a stranger. 

In 1968, when Simmons was just 20 years old, he found an anonymous note left on the windshield of his car, reading, “Dear Richard: Fat people die young. Please don’t die.”

The note motivated Simmons to overhaul his entire lifestyle and led him to start a crash diet. 

Disturbed by the note, Simmons started surviving on just lettuce and water for more than two months and lost 112 lbs. Along with his diet, he also started popping diet pills and tried hypnosis and rigorous exercise sessions. 

Though he ended up losing considerable weight, Simmons started battling severe medical conditions including hair loss, foul breath, and drooping skin. The fitness guru recalled in his book, “I ended up looking like a thin Glad bag.”

He once shared in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, “At a certain point, I was very afraid to eat because I was very afraid to die and so I stopped eating and I got to 119 pounds and I ended up in the hospital.”

“Like, when I saw spaghetti, I saw worms. I mean, I started picturing food as an enemy,” shared Simmons. 

It is also said that the celebrity fitness trainer had destroyed almost all his photos from his obese days, thus photos related to his childhood are also rare.

How Richard Simmons turned his life around

After coming back to Los Angeles in 1971, Richard Simmons worked as a maitre d’ at a restaurant, from where he quit in 1975.

His own journey toward achieving shape also made him see the gap in the fitness market. He realized there was a gap in the market as the already existing exercise studios only catered to in-shape customers. 

Inspired, Simmons opened his studio named The Anatomy Asylum, which he later changed to Slimmons. 

He also popularized his fitness mantra, “Love yourself, move your body and watch your portions".

In the same studio, he started teaching his famous aerobic classes and gained several celebrity clients. 

He also landed his own Emmy Award-winning television series ‘The Richard Simmons Show’ which ran from 1980 to 1984, and released his book ‘Never-Say-Diet’.