Days after upsetting fans with a cryptic post where he referenced “dying,” Richard Simmons is opening up about being diagnosed with skin cancer.
The fitness guru sounded upbeat as he wrote about how a small skin issue led to a major health scare in a pair of lengthy Facebook posts on Tuesday.
“Mirror mirror on the wall what’s that blemish which is so small?” Simmons, 75, began.
After noticing a “strange looking bump” under his right eye, the Sweatin’ to the Oldies star said he nursed his lesion with “a tube of Neosporin which I would put on in the morning and the evening.”
When he realised the over-the-counter treatment wasn’t working, Simmons said he knew it “was time to call my dermatologist.”
At the appointment, his doctor took a skin sample and determined Simmons had cancer.
“I asked him what kind of cancer and he said. Basel Cell Carcinoma. I told him to stop calling me dirty names. He laughed,” Simmons wrote.
The fitness personality’s next step was consulting with a cancer specialist, who told Simmons he would have to “burn my skin to remove the cancer cells.”
“There was no numbing it just had to be done with a small instrument,” Simmons said.
“As he started burning my skin a tear dropped down my cheek. You can’t cry during this and he wiped my tear,” he continued. “The burning really hurt my skin. It lasted about 30 minutes. ‘Come back in an hour and a half and see if I got it all out.’”
Simmons said he took a short drive but came back to “some sad news” — that all the cancer cells weren’t removed.
“He burned my face again. This time was worse than before...It was deeper. I did not cry this time but I did grit my teeth,” Simmons said.
The reclusive star picked up the story in a second post, where he told readers the “third time was a charm” when it came to removing his cancer.
Explaining how lucky he felt to resolve things, Simmons compared himself to several friends’ cancer experiences and said, “My cancer was nothing compared to some people that I knew.”
The pop culture icon finished by reminding fans to get a “complete check up,” before signing off with, “Love, Richard.”
Simmons’ health news comes after he worried fans on Monday with a post where he wrote, “Please don’t be sad. I am ….dying.”
He later clarified his comments, telling Facebook friends and followers, “I am not dying. It was a message about saying how we should embrace every day that we have. Sorry for this confusion.”
Simmons has led a private life since 2014. His retreat from the spotlight was examined in the 2017 podcast, Missing Richard Simmons.