Just hours before news broke that Richard Simmons had died at age 76, the fitness guru was still keeping his loyal fans updated on social media.
Shortly before 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, July 13, the professional fitness coach shared a post on several of his social media pages including Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) featuring a photo seemingly of himself in drag. His caption read: “Hello gorgeous! Please don’t rain on my parade.”
One day prior, on his 76th birthday, Simmons shared a heartfelt message about the support he received from his fans, writing that he “never got so many messages about my birthday in my life.”
“I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday,” he wrote on July 12 in one of his final posts.
Simmons recently spoke to PEOPLE in a story published on Friday about how he planned to celebrate his birthday. He said that he wanted to keep things simple and blow out a few candles.
“But the candle will probably be on a zucchini. You know, I’m a vegetarian,” he said, before admitting that he would try “maybe one Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie.”
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“I feel good!” the late star declared in the interview. “I am grateful that I’m here, that I am alive for another day. I’ll spend my birthday doing what I do every day, which is to help people.”
The professional fitness coach’s longtime publicist, Tom Estey, confirmed Simmons’ death to PEOPLE on Saturday. TMZ was first to report the news, citing reports from law enforcement.
Authorities responded to a call from the former Richard Simmons Show star’s housekeeper at around 10 a.m. PT on Saturday, the outlet reported, adding that no foul play was suspected.
“The world has truly lost an angel,” Estey told PEOPLE of Simmons.
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The former TV star had remained almost entirely out of the public eye since 2014, when he taught his final class at his iconic Beverly Hills fitness studio, Slimmons. Although he initially announced that he was taking time off to recover from a knee injury, he was never seen in public after that time, and he closed Slimmons in November 2016.
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That same year, rumors began to circulate about the star — including that he was being held at his home against his will — but he clarified several times that he wanted time off to rest and to be out of the spotlight.
“I do what I want to do as I’ve always done,” he told the Today show at the time. “I’ve taught, like, thousands and thousands of classes and, you know, right now I just want to sort of just take care of me. I just really don’t want to do anything. I just don’t want to be traveling anymore. It certainly has taken its toll on me.”
