Richard Simmons' publicist disputes a media report stating the 66-year-old fitness guru is suffering from depression and won't leave his house due to a knee injury and the death of his beloved Dalmation Hattie.
"In terms of him being out and about, he's going out. If he needs to wear a disguise, he'll wear a disguise. When you're Richard Simmons, it's not easy to get away with anonymity," Simmons' spokesman Thomas Estey told the New York Daily News Friday.
"The dog passed away a year and a half ago, it's not the issue. And he hasn't lost weight recently either. He's presently at the same weight he was when he released his first Sweatin' to the Oldies video," Estey added. "The truth is very simple, he has a knee injury, and it's serious enough to keep him from doing what he loves most: exercising and motivating others. He is not clinically depressed or a shut-in or a recluse."
TMZ this week quoted unnamed sources close to Simmons as saying he has shut down socially and professionally this past year due to Hattie's death and his need for knee replacement surgery.