Richard Simmons breaks silence on 75th birthday with rare statement

nypost.com:

rep told ET, “This is a big milestone. I just want to see him happy, which he is.”The notorious recluse spent much of the ‘80s and ’90s squarely in the public eye.

He was a fixture on daytime and late-night talk shows, putting out cookbooks, infomercials and workout videos. His 1988 VHS tape “Sweatin’ To The Oldies” was the biggest selling fitness home video of all time, grossing over $200 million.Then, in 2014, he mysteriously vanished from the spotlight, prompting wildly varying speculation about what had happened — including rumors that his housekeeper was holding him hostage, or that he was transgender and was now a woman named Fiona.

The documentary “TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened to Richard Simmons” claims the real reason he disappeared was due to an ailment. “Something that happened to him at birth is directly connected to his disappearance — a birth defect that significantly affected one of his legs,” TMZ editor Fabian Garcia said in the doc. “He was born without a full set of bones in his foot and it causes physical and emotional problems.”“Richard found comfort in food and he gained a lot of weight,” doc producer Charles Latibeaudiere further revealed. “And that put a lot of stress on his knees.”As a teenager, the New Orleans-born workout king struggled with his weight, and got bullied in school as a result. “He would try to hold back tears because boys would pick on him,” childhood friend Antoinette DiPi told People.In a 1980s interview, Simmons told Oprah that he also struggled with eating disorders. “I got to 119 pounds and I was in the hospital,” he said at the time.After getting in shape and moving to Los Angeles, his career took off, in part due to his colorful personality.