Arnold Schwarzenegger has had a colourful life so far. From his beginnings as a professional body builder at age 20 to a decorated acting career across genres from children’s comedy to blockbuster action, and even a stint as the Governor of California – who better to be the subject of his own Netflix documentary?
In his self-titled series, Arnold, the multi-hyphenate gets into the nitty gritty of his life, including his upbringing as the son of a soldier who served in the Nazi regime, his body building career, pivoting to acting, then politics, and all the scandals in between.
Read on to see the highlights of the legend’s life, as outlined by the new documentary.
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Growing up the son of a Nazi soldier
Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria in 1947 as the second son of Gustav Schwarzenegger, a military policeman who joined the Nazi party in 1938, and his wife Aurelia.
His older brother, Meinhard, was the golden child and received more attention and praise than Arnold did growing up, but it didn’t spare either of them from their father’s cruelty, said the actor.
“I don’t think my brother was ever really happy. I think he started drinking because our upbringing was very tough,” the now 75-year-old reflected in the first episode.
“The brutality that would be at home, the beatings that we got from our parents sometimes, all of this he could not sustain.”
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The actor said that growing up in Austria at that time was very strange, as all the fathers had returned home from war “broken”. He added that his father exhibited “schizophrenic behaviour”, with his children never knowing if they would be getting their “kind” father or the “drunk” one.
“He would scream at three in the morning and we would wake up and our hearts were pounding because we knew that meant,” recalled the Terminator star, “He could, at any given time, strike my mother or go crazy. So there was this strange violence.”
His brother Meinhard eventually died in a drunk driving accident in 1971, having turned to drinking as a way to cope with the abuse.
However, the actor thrived under the pressure, saying, “The kind of upbringing we had was beneficial for someone like me who was inside very strong and very determined, but my brother is very fragile.
“The very thing that made me who I am today is the very thing that destroyed him.”
Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at the tender age of 15, which would ultimately become his way out of his childhood home, winning the won the Mr. Universe bodybuilder title aged just 20 and subsequently winning the title four more times, and the Mr. Olympia title seven times.
His bodybuilding was his ticket to America, where he settled at the age of 21 in 1968, knowing very little English.
Bodybuilding was also his ticket to his acting career, which he wanted to pursue after making his name in his chosen sport.
After being typecast and sidelined due to his unique appearance, accent, and name, it was his appearance in 1977 documentary drama Pumping Iron that finally saw his rise to fame on the cusp of his retirement from the sport.
Soon after this began the consistent rise of his acting career, beginning with a breakthrough in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian. He went on to become an action star in The Terminator franchise.
Also soon after his first rise to fame was meeting his future wife, Maria Shriver.
His disastrous first meeting with the Kennedys
In 1977, Schwarzenegger was invited to participate in the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament by Ethel Kennedy, Robert’s wife. It was there he met her niece, television journalist Maria Shriver, and when he made a “stupid” first impression with his soon-to-be mother-in-law.
In the documentary, he recalled speaking to Eunice Kennedy, who told him, “My daughter is really fond of you,” to which he replied, “Well, your daughter has a really nice ass. I have to tell you that.”
He admitted that it was a ”stupid thing to say”, but it made him all the more endearing in Shriver’s eyes, having invited him to to Hyannis Port for the weekend right after his match.
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“We left that night in a private plane. I think to go with her to the beach. We climbed into the boat and run around with the boat in the bay,” he recalled, even having been invited to church with the family the next day.
“Rose Kennedy was sitting up front. I was sitting there like a shmuck with my tennis shorts on, tennis shoes and [Maria’s brother] Bobby Shriver’s shirt so I had a shirt on.”
Reflecting on the beginnings of his relationship, the actor recalled, “I really fell in love with Maria, not because she was a Kennedy but because she had an extraordinary personality. I could see that little rebel in her. I wanted to escape from Austria, she also wanted to escape. That was the beginning of Maria and I.”
The two got married in 1986 and had four children together, including author Katherine, 33, Christina, 31, actor Patrick, 29, and Christopher, 25.
Running for Governor of California and groping claims
Soon acting aspirations turned political, with Schwarzenegger making the bid for Governor of California in 2003 during a recall election. A Republican for many years, he may have had the brand name and star power, but his bid was not taken seriously by constituents who couldn’t see him in a political light.
His wife Shriver in particular was very hesitant to accept his political aspirations, having grown up in a political dynasty of her own.
“I was sitting with [Shriver] in a jacuzzi, and I said, ‘What do you think of me running for Governor?’ She flipped out,” the actor recalled in the documentary.
“I almost felt like she was hyperventilating. She felt I have gone through this with my family. She had a very emotional reaction.”
Though his wife “hated the idea” of him running for office, the Running Man actor went through with it, announcing his intentions on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
“The morning of The Tonight Show, Maria put a note under my door that said, ‘In case you decide to run here’s what I would say and here’s if you decide not to run what I would say,'” he shared, “I felt like Maria for the first time was open to the idea.”
The campaign dredged up a lot of history, including his father’s association with the Nazi party, and reports claiming he groped six different women across three decades.
Though at the time he first denied the allegations, he later conceded that he “behaved badly” on film sets.
“It is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful,” he said.
“But now I recognise that I offended people. I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologise because that’s not what I’m trying to do.”
Reflecting on the scandal 20 years on, the movie star now says that response was “defensive”.
“Today I can look at it and say it doesn’t really matter what time it is, if it’s the Muscle Beach days of 40 years ago or today, this was wrong,” he said in the documentary, “It was bulls–t. Forget all the excuses, it was wrong.”
He also adds ”It was very, very tough on my marriage on my relationship with Maria and with the kids when I was governor,” the former politician explained.
“I also lived in denial of a lot of the problems that exist[ed].”
Affair with housekeeper and consequent divorce
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Another “problem” was later dredged up came at the end of his term as governor in 2011.
After 25 years of marriage, Schwarzenegger and his wife Shriver decided to attend marriage counselling after their consistent struggles. It was there, on the therapists’ couch, that yet another scandal was uncovered.
“Maria and I went to counselling once a week, and in one of the sessions the counsellor said, ‘I think today Maria wants to be very specific about something. She wants to know if you are the father of Joseph?'” the Aftermath actor told audiences in the documentary.
Joseph was the child of their housekeeper of 20 years, Mildred Baena. He was born just days after Schwarzenegger and Shriver’s son, Christopher was, back in 1997.
“I thought my heart stopped and then I told the truth. ‘Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son.'”
It turned out that this was a test, with Shriver not only having had her suspicions, but also having confronted Baena herself, who admitted the affair happened one day when the rest of the family had been out of town.
“I had an affair in 96. In the beginning I really didn’t know, but the older he got, the more it became clear to me,” Schwarzenegger said of the resemblance his son Joseph bore to him.
“It was then just a matter of, ‘How do you keep this quiet?’.”
Schwarzenegger said that his spouse was “crushed” from the news of the infidelity, even having visited a convent and having sobbed to the Reverend Mother. She filed for divorce on May 9, 2011. On May 16, just one week later, he gave a statement to the Los Angeles Times, revealing to the world that he had fathered Joseph over 14 years before that.
“After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago,” he said at the time.
He didn’t want to “open up the wounds again”, admitting, “It was wrong what I did. But I don’t want to make Joseph feel that he is not welcomed in this world.”
Schwarzenegger took full financial responsibility for Joseph’s livelihood from the start to now. They now have a close relationship, with the now 25-year-old following in his father’s footsteps to become a bodybuilder.
“He is very much welcomed in this world. I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man,” said the actor.
He also eventually repaired his relationship with his children – recalling the time he “had to go to my kids and explain it to them” his actions – as well as Shriver, whom he officially divorced from in 2021, ten years after they first split.
“I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f–k up. Because of that everyone had to suffer. I’m going to have to live with it for the rest of my life,” he said.
“People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures. This is a major failure. I had failures in the past … but this is a whole different ballgame. It’s a whole different dimension of failure.”
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.
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