Richard Simmons Speaks Out: 'No One Should Worry About Me'

Richard Simmons spoke exclusively to ET on Sunday, addressing recent reports about why he had not been seen in public in more than two years.


"I am not kidnapped," the 67-year-old fitness guru told ET's executive producer, Brad Bessey, by phone. "I am just in my house right now."

"No one should be worried about me," Simmons said. "The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me."

On Saturday, the New York Daily News published a long report citing on and off the record sources who expressed concern for Simmons' well-being.


Simmons called the report "very hurtful."

"I love all the people who worry about me," Simmons said. "But it was time for me to take some time to be by myself. For the last 40 years I have been traveling, teaching classes, and I had a knee injury, so I had a knee replacement, which was very difficult for me… I have really just been taking it easy, staying at home, working out in my gym and doing the things I haven't done in a very long time."