NEW ORLEANS — Richard Simmons went to high school with Archbishop Aymond, and his first job was selling pralines in the French Quarter, where he got paid with free samples. And then Simmons, who was teased as a child for his weight, became a household name, for fitness.
He passed away Saturday. We take a look back at his love for the Crescent City.
There is no shortage of Richard Simmons' large-than-life personality in our news archives. In an excerpt from a 1993 interview, our conversation went like this:
“Hello Richard. Hello Meg. We miss you here in New Orleans. I was just there for my mother's birthday, and I'm going to go to my brother's birthday party in October. I miss New Orleans.”
That interview was to promote one of his new exercise videos.
“I loved to make people laugh, and I liked to do things for other people, because I was raised with parents like that. Hello, mom Shirley! I love you,” Simmons said in the interview.
Even becoming a big star with his popular “Sweatin' to the Oldies” workout videos, “Deal-a-Meal” diet planner, and “Cruise to Lose,” he never denied a fan picture, or conversation, like while shooting a 12 for the Road story with Bill Capo, or even a hug, like this one in a story with our own Eric Paulsen.
“He wanted them to feel good about themselves, and he said this is the way I can help people exercise, and eating right,” said Richard’s brother Lenny Simmons.
Lenny says they just spoke Friday, which was Richard's 76th birthday, and Lenny's 22nd wedding anniversary. He was happy. Then Saturday he got the phone call with the news.
“Very unexpected, frankly. We're still in shock. I think the thing that's keeping me sane right now, is just being able to talk about his legacy, and what a great person he was,” said Lenny Simmons.
And while he was famous, and lived in Beverly Hills, there are many who still remember him from his days growing up in the 900 block of St. Louis in the French Quarter.
“He was just so personable, even as about a 12 or 13-year-old boy. He could talk to anybody. He could talk to adults, to kids, just a very friendly, friendly warm person,” remembers JoLeigh Monteverde, a childhood friend.
“It definitely comes from being brought up in New Orleans,” Richard Simmons said in 1993 about his outgoing personality. “You have to understand everyday when I left St. Louis Cathedral School, I stood on a street corner, and sold pralines. So, I got to meet people from all over the world.”
He understood that people were suffering from obesity.
“Well we were both very heavy kids. And I remember mom taking us to Maison Blanche to get our school uniforms, and we always had to have husky,” Lenny Simmons remembers.
Lenny says the boy who went to Cor Jesus, now Brother Martin, for high school, loved raw oysters from Arnaud's. There is a documentary coming on Richard Simmons' live, and a Broadway show about his life in the making.
“So, stay tuned. Richard Simmons is still around,” Lenny Simmons said.
He says they are awaiting an official report from the coroner for a cause of death, but it is natural causes. Simmons' death was not caused by skin cancer, as some have reported. Richard Simmons had that removed 15 years ago.
Funeral plans are still in the works.
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