Richard Simmons’ staff shared his final “planned” message to fans on social media a week after the fitness guru’s death at the age of 76.
While Simmons spent his last years largely out of the public eye, he remained active on social media, often sharing personal news and words of encouragement with fans. One such post penned by Simmons was authored prior to his death on July 13, but held until this Saturday, when his staff shared it on social media.
“Richard worked very hard on his posts for you. He had many ideas and would work ahead… going back to each one making changes until he had it just like he wanted before posting,” his staff wrote on the official @TheWeightSaint account.
“As you know, on the weekends, he would just share a photo with a caption. He always chose his photos and wrote his captions for the upcoming weekend by Friday. So we have the post Richard planned to share with you last Sunday. We thought you’d want to see it.”
The last image Simmons planned on posting on Sunday, July 14 — one day after his death — was of himself wearing a NASA spacesuit accompanied by a riff on the lyrics to the Frank Sinatra classic, “Let me fly you to the moon so we can gaze among the stars.” (It’s unclear whether Simmons’ post intentionally coincided with the rom-com Fly Me to the Moon, released theatrically the day before Simmons died.)
Simmons died July 13, one day after his 76th birthday, at his home in Los Angeles; a cause of death has not yet been revealed. Following his death, his final interview was published, and Jane Fonda was among those who paid tribute to the OG influencer.
Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone
