Richard Simmons Sends 'Big Thank You' After Hospitalization

Richard Simmons is expressing gratitude for the care he received this week while hospitalized

Photo: Courtesy Richard Simmons

Richard Simmons is expressing gratitude for the care he received this week while hospitalized for severe indigestion.

“Hope you’re having a beautiful Sunday. I wanted to take a moment to send a big thank you to the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff at Cedars Sinai Medical Center during my short stay there this week. They make you feel good even though you’re in the hospital for feeling bad,” the 68-year-old fitness guru, who has not been seen publicly since 2014, wrote in a Facebook post.

The Facebook post thanked “the wonderful men and women of the Los Angeles Police Dept.,” who he said were helpful and kind to him as he returned home Thursday.

“He looks really great,” LAPD detective Kevin Becker, who helped Simmons as he arrived back at his West Hollywood home, told PEOPLE. “He is getting older like all of us but he is in good shape. He is in great spirits. He was laughing and joking and talking. He is very friendly, very funny.”

Simmons “has got a little bit of a beard,” said Becker, but otherwise he is just as fit as ever.

“He is just fine. He is just a private guy now,” he said. “If he wants to go somewhere, he goes.”

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For his part, Simmons concluded his post with more words of thanks.

“Let’s take a minute and all be thankful for medical professionals, police, firefighters and our brave military forces here and around the world. They risk so much every day to make us well and keep us protected. God Bless all of them.”