Richard Simmons Is Back (Sort Of) To Help People Stay Motivated While In Quarantine

Unlikely exercise king and motivational speaker Richard Simmons spent years out of the spotlight before the hit podcast, Missing Richard Simmons, launched him back into the cultural conversation. He’s still mostly out of the public eye, give or take a Facebook statement in 2017 where he assured his fans that he hopes “to see you again,” but that may change: Simmons’ YouTube channel became active for the first time in years in early March, around the same time the coronavirus started to spread across the globe.

“The material is nothing new — it’s old Signature Moves clips, workouts, and motivational messages,” TMZ reports, but “the revival is due to fans clamoring for him to return and lead them through at-home exercise routines again. The need for this doesn’t get much greater than during a pandemic, so we’re told Richard’s team obliged with the new posts.” It’s unclear if he’ll make new videos, but at least we’re getting daily tweets.

Did you know that Richard Simmons’ Twitter handle is “The Weight Saint”? I didn’t, because I am delighted by this piece of information. Anyway, Simmons also has a fan club newsletter, with advice on how to stay positive when you’re feeling pessimistic (“Take some time to really take inventory about what you’ve been doing, what matters most to you, and what you want to do with your life” — as long as want to do involves getting within six feet of people) and a recipe for flourless vegetable quiche.

Hopefully he and Jane Fonda are working on something big together.

(Via TMZ)