EXCLUSIVE: Richard Simmons Speaks Out: 'No One Should Worry About Me' ~ By ETonline Staff – March 13, 2016

Richard Simmons spoke exclusively to ET on Sunday, addressing recent reports about why he had not been seen in public in more than two years. "I am not kidnapped," the 67-year-old fitness guru told ET's executive producer, Brad Bessey, by phone. "I am just in my house right now."

"No one should be worried about me," Simmons said. "The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me." On Saturday, the New York Daily News published a long report citing on and off the record sources who expressed concern for Simmons' well-being. Simmons called the report "very hurtful."

"I love all the people who worry about me," Simmons said. "But it was time for me to take some time to be by myself. For the last 40 years I have been traveling, teaching classes, and I had a knee injury, so I had a knee replacement, which was very difficult for me… I have really just been taking it easy, staying at home, working out in my gym and doing the things I haven't done in a very long time."

According to Simmons, he's been keeping in shape despite concern that he might need another knee replacement. In response to speculation he has avoided going out because he has gained weight, Simmons said, "I still weigh 150. I work out every day. I have a gym at the house, and I am very healthy."

"I have had a tough time dealing with this injury, as it is keeping me from doing what I truly love to do and that is to teach classes around the world," he wrote. "Make sure you keep Sweatin'!"

It was an honor for Debbie and I (with Greg Justice) to be on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on Wednesday, February 23, 2016 representing the National Fitness Hall of Fame for the roll-out of the Surgeon General's new "Step it Up" National Fitness Program in collaboration with the American College of Sports Medicine and others. This historic fitness event featured Regina Benjamin, the 18th Surgeon General of the United States along with leadership from the United States Congress, the nation's health care system and the fitness industry. This program will be a three pronged effort.

We will be motivating health care providers to encourage their patients to be active. We will be encouraging municipalities to integrate walk-able and roll-able spaces into their infrastructure. As chairman of the National Fitness Hall of Fame and a 2012 inductee, I will be leading our iconic inductees to promote fitness both in their communities and on a national level.

~ Bill Crawford, 2012 NFHOF Inductee