Legendary actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reflects on how aging has shaped his perception of his physical appearance.
Prior to acting, Schwarzenegger — who has been a part of the entertainment industry for over five decades — was a well-known bodybuilder and even won the title of Mr. Universe when he was 20 years old. Years after his Mr. Universe title, Schwarzenegger delved into acting in 1969 by appearing in various television shows and films. The father of five would become a household name in the 1980s when he starred in Conan The Barbarian and The Terminator.
Since then, Schwarzenegger has starred in over 70 projects, the most recent being Netflix’s Fubar. In a recent cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, the star shared that during his bodybuilding days, he would often admiringly stare at his naked reflection in the mirror. Now, at 75, Schwarzenegger claimed that his admiration has faded due to the amount of wrinkles he’s gained throughout his body. While admitting it took a while to cope with his physical appearance, he said,
“My whole life I look at the mirror and see the best-built man, and all of a sudden I see a bunch of crap. It’s terrible! You get these wrinkles under your eyes. You get wrinkles under your pecs. You see the fucking poodle! The poodle? Budle. It’s Austrian for your stomach sticking out. Where the f–k did that come from? It’s not pleasurable. But you cope with it.”
Further in the discussion, Schwarzenegger revealed that one of his biggest motivations for building his strong stature stemmed from the abuse he endured from his father. He didn’t want to be a victim of anyone else’s abuse.
The Total Recall star told the publication that the trauma positively and negatively influenced his and his family’s lives. Schwarzenegger would move out at 18 and have a successful career, while his brother Meinhard Schwarzenegger tragically passed away in 1971 at 24 from drunk driving. Schwarzenegger stated as he compared his life story to his brother’s outcome,
“Well, look at my brother [Meinhard]. We were opposites. He was more fragile. He got the same treatment and became an alcoholic and died drunk driving. What tore him down built me up. It goes back to Nietzsche: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger — and he got killed…So I can look at it in a negative way and dwell on that. Or I can go, ‘but the good thing is …’ And the good thing is it made me hate my home so much that I left when I was 18 to start my own life that’s different. Was there anything negative left over? Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t have nightmares about him. I can’t complain.”
Schwarzenegger’s cover story for The Hollywood Reporter is out now.
