Rocio Mateos
Richard Simmons is taking legal action against the National Enquirer and Radar Online, after the tabloids published a story, claiming that he was taking a break from the public eye to have surgery to “transition from male to female.”
The 68-year-old fitness guru filled a multi-complaint lawsuit against American Media, Inc., parent company of the publications, alleging they published stories about him “in a hurtful campaign of defamations and privacy invasions.”
The legal complaint, which was filed Monday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court, comes after the published stories said that Simmons received “shocking sex surgery, breast implants, hormone treatments, and consultations on medical castration,” or in the publications’ words, “a secret boob job and a castration surgery.”
As for American Media, a spokesman stated that “While we have not seen Mr. Simmons’ complaint, we stand by our reporting about him, all of which was based on solid sourcing and material evidence. Should he choose to proceed his lawsuit, we will defend it vigorously, and we look forward to the public vindication of our reports.”
Simmons revealed that his former associate has been blackmailing him
Simmons is suing the companies for libel and invasion of privacy. His manager Michael Catalano said in a statement, “People have right to privacy, and just because someone is a public figure doesn’t mean their right to privacy is gone.” He added that “Richard is very glad to get his side of the story out.”
“This has been going on for a long time,” Catalano said, referring to Simmons allegations of being a victim of “blackmail, extortion, and stalking” by his former assistant, Mauro Oliveira, who was out to “destroy” his “career and reputation.”
Simmons said in the legal complaint that Oliveira had approached the publications at least three times with “untrue” stories about why the fitness guru, actor, and comedian has retreated from the public eye in exchange for “a profit.”
Among these stories are Simmons’ being “frail, weak and spiritually broken” and “being held hostage by his housekeeper.” Now they say he’s undergoing sex change surgery.
“While pitching around these ideas, Mr. Oliveira was simultaneously blackmailing Mr. Simmons, sending him emails and threatening to destroy his reputation with damaging press coverage unless Mr. Simmons paid Mr. Oliveira to stop,” the complaint said.
Simmons blames the publications for covering stories provided by Oliveira, saying that he’s not “a credible or reliable source.”
Simmons’ lawsuit is not Anti-LGBTQ
The lawsuit comes after the National Enquirer published stories stating that Simmons was transitioning to a woman named Fiona, knowing that if he were to deny them, it “will make Mr. Simmons appear to maintain that there is something wrong with transitioning from one gender to another.”
“He didn’t want to take it anymore. He’s reached his limit of tolerance,” Simmons’ lawyer Neville L. Johnson said about why he decided to file the complaint.
He has decided to fight back “because everybody’s entitled to have respect and to be dignified about whatever their sexual interest or proclivity is,” Johnson said. “Here they’re writing about intimate details of this individual that are not true, and it really was bothersome to him. It’s unfair to him, and we say [in the complaint] he always supports the LGBTQ community, but that doesn’t mean they get to write and say anything they want about him.”
The complaint says that the stories are offensive because the publications “commercialized and sensationalized an issue that ought to be treated with respect and sensitivity, while Simmons “fully supports individual autonomy and the essential human dignity of every person to make his or her own personal choices regarding sexual identity.”
After a couple of years of unexplained absence and conspiracy theories about it, including a podcast called “Missing Richard Simmons,” the star turned to Facebook last month to say he was not missing, just a little under the weather.
He was hospitalized for gastrointestinal issues, and published an update, writing, “I’m sure I will be feeling good and back home in a couple of days. This has reminded me that when you need help you can’t be afraid to reach out and ask for it.”
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