The funniest photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger + interesting things you didn't know about him

Author: Kristýna Franková

Bodybuilding / Fitness Personalities

27.01.2021

9 minut čtení

Arnold Schwarzenegger - legendary bodybuilder, successful actor and environmentally-minded politician. Who doesn't know this star? You think you know everything about him? Here are some interesting facts that might surprise you, plus you can have fun with his funniest photos.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in 1947 in Austria. Among bodybuilders, he was nicknamed "Oak" in his early days, due to his bulk and the fact that Americans had trouble pronouncing his last name. Fans often call him the Terminator (due to one of his most famous roles), but due to his many mistresses and illegitimate son with a cleaning lady, he has also earned the less flattering nickname Sperminator. He calls himself Arnold Schnitzel (German for schnitzel).

Childhoo d

Born into a poor Austrian family, Arnold's childhood was certainly no walk in the park. He spent part of his childhood in a house with no electricity or water. His father, a policeman, never believed that Arnold was his biological son and constantly made it clear that he was anything less than his brother, sparing no physical punishment. Arnold maintained a close relationship with his mother even after he left Austria, but he never found common ground with his father or brother and refused to attend their funerals.

His love of bodybuilding landed him in prison

He originally took up football, but he didn't stick with it for long. He started working out when he was 14, as he no longer wanted to put up with his classmates' comments about how skinny he was. He became passionate about bodybuilding and later started preparing for his first competition under the guidance of the successful Austrian bodybuilder Kurt Marnul. He did not give up weight training even in the army, even leaving his garrison without permission to take part in the Junior Mr. Europe competition, which he managed to win at the age of 18. This act did not go unnoticed, however, and he was punished with a one-week stint in military prison.

From a poor young man to a famous bodybuilder

The first bodybuilding competition he travelled to outside Europe was the Nabba Mr. Universe in London, where he came second. One of the judges of the contest was Charles Bennett, who was impressed by Arnold's potential and offered to train him. Arnold had little money and could not speak English, so Bennett provided him with housing and helped him improve his English. He found in Bennett's family what he had always lacked in his own - attention, support, appreciation and love. In 1967, at the age of 20, he became the youngest-ever Mr. Universe, a title he defended several times thereafter.

In 1968, he realized his dream and moved to the USA, where he began training at Gold's gym under Joe Weider. He first competed in the Mr. Olympia competition in New York in 1969, where he lost to three-time champion Sergio Oliva. In 1970 he won his first Mr. Olympia and managed to defend his title seven times. His last Mr. Olympia win was in 1980 in Sydney, after which he retired from bodybuilding. This win became very controversial and was the subject of the documentary The Comeback. Only those closest to him knew of his plan to compete again after a previous hiatus of several years and it came as a surprise to many. Initially, even Arnold himself had not planned to compete, but thanks to his hard preparation for his role in Conan the Barbarian, he was in such perfect shape that he decided to give the competition another try. His win was a thorn in the side of many competitors, experts and laymen alike, some still claiming that his opponents were in better shape and he won only because of the way he was able to fool the audience.

From bodybuilding to acting

Arnold enjoyed the attention of the crowd at competitions so much that the idea of trying his hand at acting entered his mind. In 1970, he landed the lead role in the film Hercules in New York, but his Austrian accent was so distracting to the director that he decided to have his character dubbed. He won a Golden Globe for the 1976 film Stay Hungry. He boosted his name recognition in the 1977 bodybuilding film Pumping Iron.

His breakthrough was the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian, which was a huge success with audiences and even got a sequel.

In 1984, he landed a role in the movie Terminator, directed by the famous James Cameron, this movie was also a blockbuster and more installments followed.

In total, Arnold starred in more than 50 mostly action films, earning him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his performances.

Political career

In the context of politics, he came to public attention as a Republican in 1988, when he accompanied then-Vice President George H. W. Bush to a rally. He was subsequently appointed by him as chairman of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. He later served as Chairman of the California Governors Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and was also a Red Cross Ambassador. He announced his candidacy for Governor of California in 2003 and won the election. He served as California's governor for 7 years.

Wife, mistresses, children and sexual harassment allegations

In 1986 he married journalist Maria Shiver (niece of John F. Kennedy), they divorced in 2011. During their marriage, Arnold had several mistresses, but the most famous is the housekeeper Mildred Baena, who worked for Schwarzenegger for over 20 years and with whom he fathered an illegitimate son Joseph. Interestingly, Mildred became pregnant at about the same time as Marie, so Arnold's two sons were born just days apart. He found out about the illegitimate son when he was 7 years old, but kept it from his wife and the truth only came out when he was 14. He has a total of 5 children - 3 sons and 2 daughters.

Just before the California gubernatorial election, six women accused him of sexual harassment, Arnold admitted that he had behaved inappropriately in the past, apologized to the women and paid compensation.

Attractions

He was a weightlifter and triathlete, and his personal bests are: squat 247 kg, deadlift 320 kg and bench press 240 kg.
During his time in the Austrian army, he was regularly given a new uniform due to his increase in muscle mass.
Arnold's best friend was Franco Columbu, together they owned a construction company and subsequently sold gym equipment. Their friendship lasted until Franco's death in 2019.
He got his first car from Joe Weider and it was a used Volkswagen Beetle.
His estate is estimated to be worth at least $400 million.
He earned an estimated $21,000 for every word in Terminator.
He admitted to using anabolic steroids, which he said he used mainly in his diet to avoid losing muscle mass.
He is an avid environmentalist, he had his cars modified so that one runs on hydrogen and the other on biofuels.
In 1999 he sued the German doctor W. Heep, who claimed that he would soon die due to his steroid use, for this slander he had to pay Arnold 10 thousand dollars, in the same year he also sued Globe magazine for similar predictions of his death and won this case.
He auditioned for the role of the Hulk, but was not chosen because of his height.
He was born with bicuspid aortic valve (a heart defect) - he underwent heart surgery in 1997 and 2018.
He has a pony, a donkey and a dog as pets.
His participation in the vegan propaganda film The Game Changers caused a considerable amount of resentment among fans, with some declaring him a hypocrite.
Although Arnold has always run as a Republican candidate, he did not support Trump in the election, calling him the worst US president.
He is one of the promoters of vaccination against the covid-19 disease, and has publicly appealed to others to get vaccinated on several occasions. You can watch footage of him getting vaccinated here.