Richard Simmons is one of those people that pretty much everyone knows who he is. His upbeat workouts and positive attitude are really impossible to forget.

Well, think about the last time you have heard from or seen Richard Simmons? It's been a while hasn't it? There have been countless rumors about what happened to the iconic star, including that he was ill, that he was being held hostage, or in hiding.

The last anyone heard from him was in a telephone interview last year when he addressed the rumors himself.

"No one is holding me in my house as a hostage; I do what I want to do as I've always done. So people should just believe what I have to say, because, like, I'm Richard Simmons." - Simmons said to the Today Show by phone.

He wanted to let his fans know that this wasn't the end of Richard Simmons and that he will be back one day. Saying that "you haven't seen the last of me. I'll come back and I'll come back strong."

His time out of the spotlight has raised a lot of peoples curiosity, enough so that one fan has decided to start a podcast to try to speculate what happened. The show is called "Missing Richard Simmons" and is hosted by Dan Taberski.

Taberski is a fan and was actually fairly friendly with Simmons, even visiting his home a few times. He just wan'ts to know what happened to his former friend and reconnect with him.

"He's not just retired. He's not just taking time off. [The work he has been doing has] all been abandoned and [his management and publicist] are not acknowledging that. There's something scary about this that I think is worth pursuing," - Taberski explained when asked about the premise of his podcast.

What do you think happened to him? Is it normal to take such a big break without really explaining anything or should he open up to his fans about what's going on?

Share your opinion in the comments.