{"id":13788,"date":"2012-04-27T14:27:58","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T19:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/?p=13788"},"modified":"2022-03-28T08:34:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T13:34:06","slug":"richard-simmons-poo-poos-the-biggest-loser-and-promotes-flamable-shorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/richard-simmons-poo-poos-the-biggest-loser-and-promotes-flamable-shorts\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Simmons Poo-Poos The Biggest Loser & Dave Letterman but Promotes Flamable Shorts!"},"content":{"rendered":"

’80s icon and fitness guru Richard Simmons sat down with the editors of MensHealth.com<\/a> this month for a web-exclusive interview. Among other things, Simmons discussed<\/span> how, at 63, he’s still teaching classes, wearing Dolfin shorts (he has 400 pairs!), and taking endless crap from David Letterman and Howard Stern; he also shared his thoughts on shows like<\/span> The Biggest Loser<\/span><\/em>.
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Simmons on weight loss reality shows like<\/strong> The Biggest Loser<\/em><\/strong>: <\/strong>I’m not into any show that makes people compete when they lose weight. \u00a0I think the show has some merit and they do some good. \u00a0But voting off people every week because they didn\u2019t lose enough weight, or giving somebody a car or money because they did lose weight? That’s terrible\u2026Who are<\/em> you competing against? \u00a0It’s you. \u00a0You need to be doing this for you and only you. \u00a0Not to win a car, not to stay at a fancy resort, not to get a treadmill or an elliptical for your home. \u00a0The real pride, the real present, is your health and your longevity. \u00a0My whole career I have never done anything where competition was involved with weight loss.
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\nWhy he cries every time he does Howard Stern’s show: <\/strong>I\u2019m not going to lie to you. I use at least a half box of Kleenex when I talk to Howard. I\u2019ve known him for so long, and sometimes he asks me things . . . he just hits me for a loop. I can\u2019t believe some of the things he asks…I\u2019ve been doing his show for 22 years. I\u2019ve always loved him, but he just likes to rile me up. I\u2019m just an emotional kind of person. I sit there and bawl.
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\nSimmons on David Letterman:<\/strong> I love David. \u00a0(Long pause.) \u00a0He\u2019s more complicated than any of them, that David. \u00a0I\u2019ve done his show so many times. \u00a0You know, I\u2019ve never actually met him? \u00a0Even when I would do a remote with him, we\u2019d go in separate cars and he wouldn\u2019t talk to me. Everybody on his show is so kind; it\u2019s like a party fest. \u00a0And then they take me upstairs and lock me in a room. \u00a0I\u2019m not kidding! \u00a0It makes me feel like Patty Hearst. \u00a0And then they take you down to the studio maybe two minutes before you go on. \u00a0The studio is 43 degrees, and I\u2019m in those farkakte little shorts. \u00a0I feel like that Christmas story about the little girl selling the matchsticks in the snow. \u00a0Anyway, so you do the show with him, and then when they go to commercial they remove you. You\u2019re just not allowed to talk to him [David]. \u00a0Or if you are, he\u2019s very standoffish.
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\nWould he would ever return to Letterman\u2019s show? <\/strong>I don\u2019t know. \u00a0Maybe one day, when the time and everything is right. \u00a0Because I do love him. The last time I was on, we went to commercial and I was<\/em> like, \u2018I\u2019d love to meet your wife!\u2019 \u00a0He was like,<\/em> \u2018You never will.\u2019 \u00a0And then I was like,<\/em> \u2018And see your son!\u2019 \u00a0And he was like<\/em> \u2018You\u2019ll never see him.\u2019 \u00a0And then we come back from the commercial break and he\u2019s all friendly with me again. \u2018Okay, we\u2019re back with Richard Simmons.\u2019 \u00a0You think I\u2019m kidding, but I\u2019m not making this up.<\/em>
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\nIs he still teaching workout classes at Slimmons? <\/strong>I do. \u00a0Three days a week, I teach a full hour-and-twenty-five-minute class.
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\nLet\u2019s talk about his favorite workout attire, Dolfin shorts, and his plans for them after he dies: <\/strong>They don’t make Dolfin shorts anymore. \u00a0It’s true! I’m not lying. \u00a0They’re from 1979, and they don’t make them anymore because the material is flammable. \u00a0Literally flammable! \u00a0They’re not allowed in the United States anymore. \u00a0I’ve got 400 pairs. \u00a0People write to me all the time and say, ‘Dear Richard, I was cleaning out my garage and you’re just never going to guess what I found. I’ve got two pair of Dolfin shorts!’ And they send them to me\u2026I’m going to donate all of my clothing to the Smithsonian after I die, because I want my own wing. I don’t want just, like, a Fonzie jacket. \u00a0I want the Richard Simmons wing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Simmons nickname at Slimmons, his gym: <\/strong>My nickname is Dickie Jukebox. \u00a0I own thousands and thousands and thousands of songs.<\/em><\/p>\n

His doll collection is out of control: <\/strong>I have a one-of-a-kind collection of dolls. My house is like a museum…But I have at least 400 dolls in my house at all times, and then I switch them out. We all collect something. Your mother could\u2019ve collected salt and pepper shakers. It\u2019s fun when you\u2019re younger, but then we get to our 60s and think, ‘What am I doing with all this stuff?’<\/em><\/p>\n

He took desperate measures when he was at his heaviest weight of 268: <\/strong>I took desperate measures to lose weight and did terrible things to myself. I went from diet pills to 30 laxatives a day to throwing up. Bulimic, anorexic, you name it. And after all the throwing up, I would starve myself. Which meant eating lettuce and water for two and a half months. I almost lost my life. I seriously almost lost my life. Some people reading this will not be able to relate to that, because they don\u2019t care that much about food. Or they have an addiction to some other area, so they don\u2019t understand what it\u2019s like to go into the kitchen and look through the refrigerator and then take out a piece of Tupperware and crack it open and there\u2019s that satisfying (popping sound) of the Tupperware opening, and you see what\u2019s inside. When we\u2019re binging, we do not think about death. We just think about how good it tastes. <\/em><\/p>\n

Thinking about retirement? <\/strong>Oh no, I couldn’t do that. \u00a0I wouldn’t be able to sit still. \u00a0If I have to die, I want to combust in the middle of one of my classes.<\/em>
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