‘All of your friends have pictures of girls. Where did I go wrong?’
Arnold Schwarzenegger knew he wanted to be a champion bodybuilder from a young age, and part of that saw him plaster his bedroom walls with pictures of musclemen so he could visualise his transformation.
While the seven-time Mr Olympia was simplifying worshipping his idols, his mum, Aurelia Schwarzenegger, was concerned about her son’s sexuality and viewed bodybuilding as a “frivolous pursuit.”
The images made her cry and she sought advice from a local doctor about her’s son obsession with hench men.
Arnold speaks about his mother’s fears in the Netflix series, Arnold, and opened up about it again during ‘An Evening With Arnold Schwarzenegger’ event at the Academy Museum earlier this week.
Speaking at the event, he said: “My mother was always looking at that wall and she said, ‘All of your friends have pictures of girls. Where did I go wrong?”
“And she would cry. She was in front of the wall crying every day until she called the doctor, our house doctor.”
A doctor later came to the Schwarzenegger home and put Arnold’s mother’s fears to rest.
“He finally said, no, this is quite normal in the kids at this age. They idolise men that are strong. Don’t worry about it. He’s not gay. That was their biggest fear.”
Reflecting on his role models growing up, Schwarzenegger pointed to Hercules star Steve Reeves and British bodybuilder Reg Park as his.
“When I read that Reg Park was working out five hours a day, lifting heavy weights, and doing 50, 60 sets of exercise and lifting 50 tons of weights a day, I would do the same thing,” Schwarzenegger said.
“My parents thought that I was a little bit sick in my head, and they thought I was overdoing it and I was obsessed and it was bad for my health.”
Throughout the event, which included a 3D screening of Schwarzenegger’s most successful movie Terminator 2, the actor spoke with Taschen editor Dian Hanson ahead of the upcoming release of his memoir titled ‘Arnold’.
Arnold went on to beat Reg in 1970 at the NABBA Mr Universe professional competition in London.
While promoting his book Total Recall, the actor shared he also had a tumultuous relationship with his father, Gustav Schwarzenegger.
He told 60 minutes his dad “ran after me with a belt and beat me”.
“I don’t know if mum thought I was gay, or if she just thought there was something off. And ‘let’s catch it early. She asked the doctor, ‘Can you help me? I don’t know if there’s something wrong with my son because his wall is full of naked men. All of Arnold’s friends have pictures of girls above their beds. And Arnold has no girls.’
Arnold became the youngest Mr. Universe in 1967, age 20 and went on to dominate the sport for almost a decade.
After moving to California, from his native Austria, in 1968, Arnold went on to win three more Mr Universe titles and then the professional Mr Olympia title six years in a row (1970–75) before retiring. He then became a movie star and the Governor of California.
Arnold married his now, ex-wife, Maria Shriver, and the pair had four children. They broke up after it was revealed he had another child following an affair with his long-term housekeeper.
And, of course, the bodybuilder is not gay and has enjoyed several high-profile relationships with women over the years including ‘Rocky’ actor Brigitte Nielson and ex-wife Maria Shriver.
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