Arnold Schwarzenegger – this man has proved himself in various fields in his life: an athlete, film actor, entrepreneur, producer, director and even a politician.
As a simple guy from the Austrian countryside, he achieved dizzying success through hard training and the desire to win. Today the whole world knows Arnold Schwarzenegger, but how did his success story begin?
Childhood in the provinces
The Schwarzenegger couple lived in the southeast of Austria, not far from the city of Graz. It was there, in the village of Tal, that the future famous bodybuilder was born. This event took place on July 30, 1947. At the time, his father was a police officer, but in the past he was a soldier in the Third Reich and diligently instilled army discipline in his sons, Arnold and his older brother Meinhard.
The mother of the family did not work, she was entirely engaged in housework. They lived in poverty, the father in childhood taught the boys to work and play sports. At the same time, his manner of upbringing was distinguished by severity and included physical punishment. The younger Schwarzenegger especially got it, because because of the rumors about the possible betrayal of his wife, the head of the family treated him worse than his brother. According to the memoirs of the actor, neither his mother nor his father was ever interested in his affairs and demanded from him only the observance of generally accepted rules. That is why, not feeling the love of understanding from close people, he set himself the goal of becoming famous and getting rich.
Passion for bodybuilding
Arnie was not a diligent schoolboy, although the teachers spoke of him in a positive way and considered him an energetic teenager, with a cheerful and kind disposition. Thanks to his father’s intervention, he became interested in football and attended training regularly until he was 14 years old. It was then that he met bodybuilding and became interested in this sport. Since then, he often visited the cinema, where he enthusiastically followed the game of Reg Park and Steve Reeves, films with which at that time were often shown in his native village.
But his main idol was the Soviet weightlifter Yuri Vlasov. A novice bodybuilder, a thin and lanky teenager, was introduced to the athlete by a coach who asked the Russian to somehow cheer up the notorious boy. Arnold remembered that meeting for the rest of his life. Later, in 1988, during a visit to the USSR, he found a man whom he still considers his teacher, and shook his hand with gratitude for everything. When Vlasov died, the famous actor wrote that he would never say that he had made himself, since he owed his success to the 1960 Olympic champion.
Army
In 1965, Arnold was drafted into the army, which the young man, tired of his father’s control, was only glad about. He was especially delighted with the place of service – the tank troops. Years later, Schwarzenegger collected a collection of military vehicles, which included a tank from his unit. Technique does not stand idle, and once the artist rode a sick boy on a tank, fulfilling his desire.
However, as soon as the command found out about his victory, the punishment was canceled and even the winner was awarded a two-day vacation.
The adventure didn’t end there. Once Arnold, along with the division, stopped for the night by the stream and settled down to sleep under the bottom of the tank. Waking up at night, he found that he had lost a multi-ton car. The search led him to a stream, in the silt. It turned out that the young tanker did not put the vehicle on the handbrake. To correct his mistake, a tractor was required. Another adventure happened already in the hangar. Having received an order to warm up the tank engine, he overfulfilled the order and turned on the gear. For the demolished wall, he earned a week’s outfit in the kitchen. By the way, this particular car is now in his garage, the athlete bought it for $ 1.52 million.
Career start
At the age of 19, Arnold left the Austrian army and moved to Munich. He took a job as a coach and continued to participate in various competitions. In 1967, his perseverance was rewarded – the athlete became “Mr. Universe”, having taken second place the year before.
Two years later, he moved to North America, which he had dreamed about since childhood. At first, he had a hard time, a strong Austrian accent interfered. He worked out at the Gold’s Gym under the supervision of the famous bodybuilder Joe Weider and already in 1970 received the title of “Mr. Olympia”. In parallel, he studied English and business, earning money for his studies by selling brochures of his own composition. After 9 years, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Cinema
In his first film, Hercules in New York, Schwarzenegger starred in 1970 under the pseudonym Arnold Strong. The creators of the picture felt that the native name of the artist would be difficult to pronounce for American viewers. All his lines were dubbed. Arnold later called this work the most disliked in his film career. At first, he was reluctantly approved for movie roles, as they were considered too muscular, but still he managed to star in The Long Goodbye, and then in Stay Hungry, but critics did not appreciate his efforts.
The novice actor did not lose heart and diligently worked on his shortcomings. Success came in 1980 when he was entrusted with the lead role in the film Conan the Barbarian. Despite criticism, the audience liked the film, and Schwarzenegger became the idol of many teenagers. “Conan the Destroyer” brought him even more fame, but the artist did not like the work in the same image, and in the future he reluctantly agreed to shoot in the sequels. One of the exceptions was 1984’s The Terminator, the actor missed only one picture of the franchise.
This was followed by “Red Sonja”, “Commando”, “Predator”, “Total Recall” and other interesting works that added to his popularity. Wanting to get rid of the image of a “mountain of muscles”, he played in “Gemini” and “True Lies”, proving that a great figure is not his only advantage. His filmography includes more than 70 works, he also made his directorial debut in 1989 with Tales from the Crypt.
Politics
Arnold received US citizenship in 1983, but did not refuse the Austrian one. From the moment he moved to America, he sympathized with the Republicans and joined their party, in 2003 he was elected to the post of governor of California. The election campaign was not always successful, once he was even pelted with eggs, but the bodybuilder reacted with amazing calmness, joking that the eggs lacked bacon.
After winning the election, he gave up his salary in favor of charity and tried in every possible way to reduce state expenses. He left office in 2011 following the California Constitution.
Family and personal life
Relationships with parents and brother remained strained. When Meinhard, under the influence of alcohol, had an accident and died, Arnold did not even come to the funeral. However, he paid for his nephew’s education and helped him settle in America.
In relations with the fair sex, Schwarzenegger has always been straightforward, without wasting time on courtship. At the same time, most of the girls agreed to spend time with him, unable to refuse such a handsome man. Everything changed when he met Barbara Outland Baker, falling in love for the first time in his life. They broke up at the initiative of the girl. Subsequently, Arnie had many novels, even his relationship with Brigitte Nielsen was reported, but he married only in 1986, Maria Shriver. Interestingly, even in his youth, the artist announced that he would marry a representative of the Kennedy clan, to whose family his wife also belonged. He definitely knows how to achieve his goals. 4 children were born in the marriage: girls Catherine Eunice (1989) and Christina Maria Avrelia (1991), and boys Patrick (1993) and Christopher Sargent Shriver (1997).
In 2011, Maria and Arnold broke up due to the betrayal of the latter. It turned out that the bodybuilder cheated on his lawful wife with a maid and even had an illegitimate child from her, Joseph Baena (1997). He did not refuse an illegitimate son, he and his mother provide for him, and he also does not forget about legitimate children. Since 2015, he has been dating Heather Milligan, a sports doctor who is 27 years his junior.
