Yesterday we brought you the story about how Richard Simmons’ former associate, Mauro Oliveira, reportedly extorted and blackmailed the star. Today there is new information.

Richard filed a lawsuit claiming libel and invasion of privacy against the National Enquirer and its parent company, American Media, Inc., over stories that said he is now living as a transgender woman.

The lawsuit states that the main source of the stories blackmailed him for years, and included a photo from 2013 of Richard dressed in drag. According to the lawsuit, there were 16 factual errors in the first story about him, including that he had undergone gender reassignment procedures to transition to a woman.  Richard claimed the garb was just part of his  “his well-known and longstanding burlesque-style entertainment persona.”

Richard is seeking unspecified damages, an apology, and retraction of the stories published in June 2016 and March 2017 in the National Enquirer and its website, RadarOnline.