Did Richard Simmons wear a headband? History confuses fans of famous fitness instructor

Nostalgic internet users have been left divided over whether fitness icon Richard Simmons wore a headband back in his heyday.

Sometimes, the way we remember things from our younger days which turn out to be completely different from how they actually were, and people are finding that their memory of Simmons always wearing a headband is totally wrong.

Simmons was well-known for his aerobics videos back in the 80s and was often styled in legwarmers, short shorts and vest tops.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

But, debate has erupted online about whether he wore a headband or not, after image searches of the fitness guru consistently show him without one despite people's differing memory.

Did Simmons wear a headband?

The debate was recently sparked by TikToker Kelly Manno who posted a now-viral video responding to a fan who said: “What until she finds out Richard Simmons never wore a headband.”

Initially, Manno suggested the statement was ridiculous before revealing that every picture she found of Simmons showed him without one.

She joked: “What do they think they did? Went through the whole internet and scrubbed every photo of Richard Simmons ever wearing a headband?”

On TikTok, one baffled user commented: “He definitely had a headband! The wrist bands and all!”

Another said: “HE WORE A HEADBAND!! I’m positive!!!”

But, it would appear that Google Images does not return a single image with Simmons himself sporting a headband.

On Reddit, someone referred to the phenomenon as a case of the Mandela effect – this describes when a large part of the population people believes that an event happened when it didn’t.

They wrote: “I'm 100 per cent sure Richard Simons wore a headband. You cannot find even ONE picture of him wearing one on Google Images. This one is the most powerful Mandela effects I've ever experienced.”

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.