Richard Simmons Clarifies His Mysterious Tweet That Seemed To Announce He Was ‘Dying’

Richard Simmons got social media users working up a sweat.

The beloved fitness personality — who rose to fame in the 1970s and ’80s thanks to his eccentric and energetic personality and his accessible at-home “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” line of aerobics videos — posted a cryptic message Monday on X, formerly Twitter, that confused and concerned a lot of users.

“I have some news to tell you. Please don’t be sad. I am ….dying,” Simmons began his post. “Oh I can see your faces now. The truth is we all are dying. Every day we live we are getting closer to our death. Why am I telling you this?”

Although some wrote off the post as just a joke — especially since Simmons followed up that tweet with a thread of health tips — its wording never specifies whether Simmons is just trying to make light of the fleetingness of life or an actual life-threatening diagnosis.

It was especially bewildering because Richards has been reclusive from public life since 2014 , as was pointed out in Dan Taberski’s popular 2017 podcast, “ Missing Richard Simmons .”

The tweet even seemed to confuse media outlets that reached out to Simmons’ reps to verify whether or not the 75-year-old aerobics instructor was in good health.

The tweet seemed to cause such a fiasco that hours later, Simmons tweeted a clarification.

“Sorry many of you have gotten upset about my message today. Even the press has gotten in touch with me,” Simmons wrote. “I am not dying. It was a message about saying how we should embrace every day that we have. Sorry for this confusion.”

Tom Estey, a spokesman for Simmons, clarified to CNN that Simmons is fine.

“I can confirm with one hundred percent certainty that Richard is not dying,” Estey told CNN. “He’s, in fact, very healthy