#587 - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Summary

Podcast Summary: This Past Weekend #587 - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Host: Theo Von
Guest: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Release Date: June 5, 2025
Description: Theo Von engages in an in-depth conversation with Arnold Schwarzenegger, exploring his journey from bodybuilding and acting to politics and philanthropy. They delve into Arnold's personal experiences, motivations, and the legacy he continues to build.

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1. Introduction and Guest Overview

Theo Von introduces the episode with enthusiasm, highlighting Arnold Schwarzenegger as a legendary actor, bodybuilder, and former Governor of California. He teases discussions about Arnold's upcoming Netflix show "Fubar" and other significant aspects of his multifaceted career.

"Today's guest is a legendary actor, bodybuilder, taste maker, really. In the world of bodybuilding. He was the governor of California... I'm honored to sit down with the one and only Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger." ([00:00])

2. Early Life and Bodybuilding in Austria

Arnold Schwarzenegger shares insights into his upbringing in Austria, emphasizing his father's influence as a musician and police officer. Despite his father's wishes for him to pursue music, Arnold's passion for bodybuilding took root early on, inspired by icons like Reg Park and Steve Reeves.

"I was fixated. I put my mind on Reg Park's body and decided to make that my own." ([08:31])

He recounts his rigorous training regimen, performing thousands of sit-ups during lunch breaks and dedicating multiple hours daily to perfecting his physique. Arnold's determination was evident even in his school years, often daydreaming about his bodybuilding aspirations.

"I was always wandering off when the teacher was teaching because I was visualizing my dreams." ([09:09])

3. Transition to America and Bodybuilding Success

Driven by his vision, Arnold sought opportunities beyond Austria. In 1968, Joe Weider, a prominent figure in bodybuilding, invited him to the United States. Upon arrival, Arnold was met with unprecedented generosity from the American bodybuilding community, which played a pivotal role in his early success.

"The American people showed me unparalleled generosity; it was then I truly realized the American spirit." ([23:07])

Arnold discusses his experiences in iconic gyms like Vince's Gym and Gold's Gym in California, building connections with top bodybuilders and establishing himself in the competitive scene. His rivalry with Sergio Liver is a focal point, ultimately leading to multiple Mr. Olympia titles.

"Competition is about more than just physical strength; it's about pushing yourself beyond limits." ([20:44])

4. From Bodybuilding to Acting

Leveraging his bodybuilding fame, Arnold transitioned into acting. He became the first bodybuilder to hire a publicist, leading to appearances on major talk shows such as Johnny Carson and the Mike Douglas Show. Arnold views bodybuilding as an art form, comparing posing routines to acting.

"Posing is one of the great forms of acting. You communicate without words, with every muscle and expression." ([44:14])

His determination and business acumen led to the creation of the Arnold Classic, expanding the scope of bodybuilding competitions and raising substantial prize money. This initiative not only fostered the growth and popularity of the sport but also solidified his legacy within the fitness industry.

5. Political Career and Public Service

Arnold's passion for making a positive impact extended beyond fitness and entertainment. As Governor of California, he focused on environmental initiatives, healthcare, and after-school programs, raising over a billion dollars to support youth.

"We should leave the world a better place than we found it. That's my mission." ([69:42])

He emphasizes the importance of leadership through cooperation and compromise, reflecting his belief in improving society through proactive initiatives.

"Politics is like the road. The left and right are the gutters, and the center is drivable." ([88:26])

6. Legacy and Philanthropy

Arnold discusses his commitment to philanthropy and mentorship, driven by the support he received in America. His after-school programs and environmental efforts showcase his dedication to community enrichment. He stresses the importance of recognizing that no one is self-made, highlighting the collective support that contributes to personal success.

"I recognize that I'm not self-made. I owe my success to many who helped me along the way, and now I strive to help others." ([76:35])

7. Personal Life and Philosophy

Arnold shares insights into his personal life, emphasizing the balance between work, family, and health. He talks about his children’s successes and the importance of active parenting. His philosophy centers on maintaining discipline, staying active to prevent health issues, and continuous self-improvement.

"Movement is key. If you rest, you rust." ([84:12])

He reflects on his battles with heart problems, underscoring the importance of proactive health management and resilience.

"I always stayed ahead of my heart issues by training every day and watching what I eat." ([66:50])

8. Closing Remarks and Future Endeavors

Theo Von wraps up the conversation by expressing admiration for Arnold's contributions and legacy. They briefly touch upon Arnold's new Netflix show "Fubar," with Arnold teasing the integration of action and humor reminiscent of his "True Lies" days.

"I hope this is not the last time. We should do this again sometime." ([101:42])

Arnold concludes with heartfelt praises for his children and mentors, emphasizing the importance of giving back and staying connected to one's roots.

"Everything that you want to do that is really good and you want to go all out, it's difficult. But I was very fortunate because I married a woman that understood that I have to work." ([82:16])

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Notable Quotes:

• "I was fixated. I put my mind on Reg Park's body and decided to make that my own." ([08:31])
• "Competition is about more than just physical strength; it's about pushing yourself beyond limits." ([20:44])
• "Posing is one of the great forms of acting. You communicate without words, with every muscle and expression." ([44:14])
• "We should leave the world a better place than we found it. That's my mission." ([69:42])
• "Movement is key. If you rest, you rust." ([84:12])
• "I recognize that I'm not self-made. I owe my success to many who helped me along the way, and now I strive to help others." ([76:35])

This comprehensive summary captures the essence of Arnold Schwarzenegger's conversation with Theo Von, highlighting his journey, philosophies, and enduring impact across various fields.

Transcript

[Theo Von]

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[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So where do you. You work out of. Where do you work out of? North.

[Theo Von]

I live in Nashville, Tennessee now.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Tennessee.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. I lived here for about 12 years.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's a growing city now, isn't it?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's growing fast because it's safe. They have. You can have a weapon if you need to. So you can, you know, I think there's that semblance of you can take care of yourself type of energy.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Right.

[Theo Von]

And so. And it's a friendly community, and it's very safe. You know, it's like a lot of cities, some of them get kind of dangerous.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's known for its country music, right?

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Did you ever listen to country music growing up?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, I mean, that's when that's growing up. Growing up was kind of rock and roll, you know, the 50s. Rock and roll.

[Theo Von]

Did they have any? Because you grew up in Austria, right? Or until what age?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Austria. Yeah. I was in Austrian until I was 19.

[Theo Von]

Oh.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And so we were. There was a program that was called Hit Parade. And the Hit Parade.

[Theo Von]

A television show?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, no, we didn't have television so we just had the radio at home. But I had then bought. I was like 15, and I just bought my first transistor radio.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

In a little plastic box, right. And I paid off like 50 shilling a month until it was paid off a year later. But then that I always took down to the lake where I grew up. That we were sitting around the boys from a village and we were listening to this hit parade. It was from 7 to 8 at night on Wednesdays, and there was like Little Richard and Chuck Berry and all of those guys that were big in the 50s. Exactly. And so I grew up with that. And that's why I have that station in my radio 50s at all times.

[Theo Von]

Oh, so you still listen to it?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It just listen. I just love it. Right. Then when I came over here, I became aware of a little bit of the country western kind of music.

[Theo Von]

Did you go to a concert in Austria? Was there a concert you ever went to before you came here?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I could never afford a concert. Are you kidding me? I had no money. But I mean, I. When I came over here, I. I then became aware of the country western songs, especially Johnny Cash hit in a television show, a weekly television show, and was great, great music. And. And so I fell in love with that. And then friends of mine here in America then took me to concerts. You know, it was like a jazz concert or a country western concert and all of this stuff. And so then that's when I started really getting into it. But I mean, I loved the music. But when you grow up in Austria, the most of the stuff that you hear is really Austrian music. You know, the umpadla delay and all this kind of things. Beautiful music. But I mean, that's what you hear on public radio and public television also. That's what you see. And you see operas and you hear concerts, you know, my father himself was a musician. He played six instruments.

[Theo Von]

Six instruments?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, all kind of like trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, all of the stuff like that.

[Theo Von]

A lot of traditional music.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, very traditional. Because he was the conductor of the chanter Marie music, which is the police, the country police.

[Theo Von]

Like the Marie.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's called the chande. Marie is the French word. And so he was. He was a chandam. He was a police officer. And so he played in that gendarmerie music.

[Theo Von]

Would he play at home or where would he play?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He. He practiced at home. You know, he would. While I was training, I remember I was doing my workouts and he would be standing. The window will be open up at our house. And he would be Kind of playing out to the window. Out the window. And there was a kid that was my age, but that lived 150 yards away from us. It was one of my best friends, and he also learned how to play the trumpet at the age of, like, 13 or 14. So he would play over there, and then my dad would play over here, and they were going back and forth. Like, that was really fun.

[Theo Von]

Like a couple of birds, almost.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, but I never, for some reason or the other, my dad always wanted me to get into music. Not as professional, but.

[Theo Von]

Did you try it at all?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, I tried it. It just didn't work.

[Theo Von]

What instrument?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, he tried with trumpet, obviously. Then he thought that he gna seduce me kind of into the music because I liked Elvis. So he said, well, why don't you learn how to play the guitar? Yeah, I don't play the guitar, he says, but there's a farmer that is 100 yards up the road. He plays the guitar and he can teach. He's also a teacher. And so I would go to him, but it just, you know, I just could see right away that that was not meant for me.

[Theo Von]

Was there a lot of, like, when you were a child in Austria, was there a lot of, like, individualism, or was it. Were things very, like, regimented? Like, in America you could, like, you can be an individual, right? But some countries, it's a little bit harder to kind of, like, you know, be an individual and have a voice. I'm just wondering, what was it like there when you were young? Did it feel like things were regimented or it was okay to be rebellious? What was it like there?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I was rebellious in a way, because, I mean, think about it. Soccer and track and field, they were kind of like the. In sports. But when I was exposed to weightlifting and to powerlifting and to bodybuilding, I fell in love with that. And also because my heroes like Reg park and Steve Reeves, they were doing Hercules movies, and I just started looking at those movies, right? And so I said, I want to be like that. I don't want to be a top soccer player. I want to be like that. I want to have some muscles like that, and I want to get into movies like that, you know? So that all of a sudden became my dream.

[Theo Von]

So you really want it to be like this?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. So I was fixated. I was like, kind of, like, concentrating that I kind of put visually my head on Ridge Park's body. And I said, there was a picture, a famous picture where he won the Mr. Universe contest in London. In 1951. And when I saw that picture, it was like him holding the trophy and flexing his bicep.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And then I said myself, can you imagine if this is me, I'm gonna make this me. And so that's what I was training for. So my parents thought it was kind of, what is that all about? Where did that come from? And the whole neighborhood was kind of like wondering, what is this guy doing? Training every day, two hours, three hours a day. I came home and instead of having lunch, I would put my sit up board up in the kitchen table and I would be doing sit ups. Yeah, 500 sit ups during lunch.

[Theo Von]

So you were addicted to, you were.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Totally, totally addicted to that. Because I was driven by my vision, you know, so it was always there.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Even when I was in school, I would sometimes just wander off when the teacher was teaching out there and writing up something on the blackboard. And I would be looking at that and then all of a sudden he could see that I was just kind of like staring off.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And then all of a sudden he threw a chalk at my head and out, bang. And I looked back again. He says, he says, arnold, I'm up here. I mean, I know you're looking at the beautiful trees out there. They're more beautiful maybe than me, but you got to listen what I'm saying. So. So I noticed I was always kind of drifting off and daydreaming, visualizing, visualizing my dreams. Always visualizing my dreams. Being on that stage in the Mr. Universe contest, doing maybe Hercules movies, going to America and all of that. So it was very different. So that was not the norm. So I did step out of the norm. And because everyone else was talking about, oh, I'm going to go and get a job with the government because I want to make sure that I correct my pension when I was 65. Notice I had no interest in any of that pension. I mean, what are we talking about, the age of 18? We start talking about pensions. I mean, it's crazy, right? But that's the European way everyone looks for stability, or especially in those times where government was really ruling, you know. So then that's also, I think, an explanation of why when they came over here to America in 1968 and I saw Hubert Humphrey and Nixon came.

[Theo Von]

Humphrey, who is.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He was the vice president down to Johnson.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And so he was after Kennedy to become. Well, Johnson was after Kennedy. Then he was. Humphrey was his vice president. So he was running for president.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah, he eats gumdrops, that guy.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And so it was really interesting when I listened to the debates, and I didn't understand maybe three quarter of it, but I had a friend that spoke German, and he translated for me. And when I heard of what Nixon said, it was so opposite of what I grew up with, which I didn't like. The government was in kind of in charge of everything in Austria. In Austria, yeah. Exactly. And. And so I was in Germany, and in all those countries over there in Europe, socialism was the system that I grew up in. So when. When Nixon spoke, I felt like, wow, get government off your back.

[Theo Von]

Get the government off your back.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Right. Wow. And lowering. Lowering the taxes. Strong military, strong police force, strong distant gladiator in a strong economy. Let the people be free. Let them shop all around the world and blah, blah, blah. I said myself, this is, like, unbelievable. And then when Humphrey spoke, it was like I was back in Austria, you know? So then I said to myself, what. What are the parties here? Because they didn't understand, really, the parties yet.

[Theo Von]

Why. What was it about Humphreys that made it feel like you're back in Austria?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Where is it? Government is the solution.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I see. So he was more like the cage.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

We all know that the government is not the solution. I mean, it's like the free enterprise, the economy and all this. You got to let people be free and not be controlled by government. Government is good, but you have to find kind of the middle ground of all this stuff.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. You can't. If you rely solely on the government for your life, then you'll just be a. You'll be a part of the government.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Basically, and you become a vegetable.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Because you. They create a safety net. They create. And you don't have the will to really kind of make it on your own. So what. The big advantage of coming to America was that there was no safety net. So I was on my own.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So I had to get really creative. Okay. How can I go and go to school and educate myself? How can I go and get more English classes? How can I go to Santa Monica City College and at the same time work and at the same time train five hours a day and do all of those kind of things? So this is. But it was up to me now to be successful, not up to the government.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I like that.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, so government was providing the opportunity, the structure, but that is what I enjoyed. And so this is why I became kind of like a Nixon Republican. And people always kind of like, you know, especially in California, which is much more. Yeah, so. So I. I really enjoyed it. Nixon, of course, came from California.

[Theo Von]

Question, Arnold.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Was it scary to tell your parents that to leave Austria? Did people do that at the time? I'm just a little bit curious on what it was like to say, I'm leaving here and I'm going to go to America. Was it even a popular path for people to go?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, remember I started saying this when I was 10.

[Theo Von]

Ah, I see. So it had been. Your parents knew it was in your head.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, exactly. So I saw a documentary, a black and white documentary in a school that showed always Those films with this 8 millimeters, whatever films on the little screen. And like I said, television was not the common thing at that time in Austria. So we didn't grow up with that. And. But they showed the film and I saw a documentary about America.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Now I see the Empire State Building. I said, wait a minute, this building is like, you know, 100 times taller than any of the buildings in grazing where I grew up. Right. In Austria. And then I saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Then it's a Pacific coast highway. I saw all of this kind of, you know, great, great things. I saw the six lane highways. I saw the big Cadillacs, you know, with the big fins sticking out. You know, I said to myself, and then we had all these little kind of cars and muscle beach and all of this stuff that the Hollywood. And somebody said, I got to go to America, I got to go to America. Austria is not the place. It was almost kind of like that my gene was over here, you know, so this is so it. It kind of. I gravitated towards America. Not that they hated Austria, but I just wanted to leave and go do something different. So my parents always saw me as being different. So it was not a surprise to them that I wanted to go. As soon as I was through with high school and trade school, that I want to go into the military. So I went in the military. Because after you go and serve in the military, then you can get your passport and you can travel.

[Theo Von]

So you had, you had to go to the military to get your passport in Austria?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That's right.

[Theo Von]

Is it still that way?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, I don't think it's different now. Everything is different because, you know, everything has changed.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. And you had a brother as well, right? Was, did he go in the military?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He was in the military. And was he older than or younger? He was a year older.

[Theo Von]

Oh, cool.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

What's his name was a year. Meinhardt.

[Theo Von]

Meinhardt.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Meinhardt, Exactly. So he was a year earlier, but he passed away as you know, I didn't know it. Yeah. At very young, at the age of 24.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, it was like a drunk.

[Theo Von]

That's him right there.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. No, this is, this is a front stitching. He was my training partner in Munich. So when I went, I went first. So off after the army, the Austrian army, I immediately left to go to Munich because I got an offer because now I at that meantime, I became the European champion in bodybuilding in the junior division.

[Theo Von]

Okay, so you go to the military.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So, yeah, so it became this. While I was in the military, I won this title. M. You know, best built men of Europe junior. You know, I was 18 years old. So now I get this office in Munich. It's the biggest gym to go and become a trainer. So I said to myself, okay, I'm going to serve out my term here, get out of here a year later, and then I go to Munich and I become a trainer there. Now then I can train anytime, 24 hours a day because I actually lived in the gym. So I could get up, literally if I wake up at three in the morning and you know, I can, let's say, can fall back to sleep, I go out to the gym.

[Theo Von]

How did you live in there? Like where they just had a bed in the exact.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It was a little room. It was from here to the other you sit and a bed and just a little kind of a thing with cabinet with drawers. I put my stuff in. That was it. That was it. And then I walked out of the. It used to be an office there for the gym. And I just moved in there because I had no money.

[Theo Von]

And you were like, this is what I do all the time anyway. This is like.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. So I was, I was in heaven.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Are you kidding me? I mean, I went out there, turn on the lights and I was posing with the. All the overhead lights. Notice I was posing in the mirror all the time. At night I would wake up and we go out there posing and stuff. Posing, you know, very intense.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And very passionate about bodybuilding and perfecting my body and. And going to London to that very same contest that R. Park won the Mr. Universe. And that that very same year when I went now to. To Munich, 1966, I became now Mr. Europe literally two months later. And then best buildman of Europe. And then I went to the Mr. Universe contest. With the age of 19, I was the youngest competitor and I came second.

[Theo Von]

And where was that held at?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It was in London. This is stage is rich.

[Theo Von]

So you still hadn't made it to the US yet?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, no, not yet. No.

[Theo Von]

No. And was your brother also lifting weights? Was he a weightlifter?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, he was not interested in that. He was much more, I think, academic, I would say, because he read a lot and he studied out. He was really good in school. I was not that good in school, so.

[Theo Von]

So did you guys get along pretty well? Is that him or.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, that's him. Yeah, That's Mineheart.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's a cool.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

What is mine. Minehot.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. Minehood. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

I just wonder what it would be like because I have a brother too. So I'm just thinking sometimes, like it would be. Yeah, I just think about my brother a lot. So I guess I was just curious what it was like, what your brother was like.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, he was different than me, but we did hang out together. He did come to the gym every so often and he worked out with me. But he was not into it.

[Theo Von]

He wasn't.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He is, naturally. He had a better body than I had.

[Theo Von]

Oh, really?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, he had a really V shaped body at wide shoulders, a very, very small waist.

[Theo Von]

God, they always give it to the person that doesn't want it.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I know.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, but that's.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I think what is interesting about it is that you struggle much more in the beginning and to catch up and then all of a sudden, you know, you see your own potential.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, you don't see it in the beginning, but then, I mean, I think it was like going to the gym was my first time where I got compliments because my parents were not into that. It was the Austrian kind of upbringing, kind of everything. They. They correct everything. Yeah. Then the grades are no good and the soccer. Why did. You didn't. Why didn't you kick the ball? You were like 10 yards away from the goal. You didn't kick it in. You tripped over the. I mean, what a. Come on out. It was always some kind of a.

[Theo Von]

Always trying to correct you.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Exactly. That's right. Yeah. It was always a complaint. And then if you made a mistake, you get smacked and stuff like that. So it was that kind of upbringing. But it was very helpful to me because it actually gave me the motivation.

[Theo Von]

To leave Austria and to give you control. I mean, if you're way. If you're bodybuilding, it's just you against you. There's no. You don't have to depend on anybody else. I mean, I guess you have to depend on the judges when you go to actually compete. But day to day, it is you against your Own emotions and mentality and ability.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yes. But also at the same time, even though it is a sport that you are on your own, but in the end you still rely on your training partners. I was very fortunate always that I had the mentality of, of being able to attract the best training partners. So I had guys that were as hungry as I was because that's the important thing. If you have someone that is not as hungry, then it doesn't really mean anything.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

If you have someone that competes with you, that counts out the reps, then he wants to do an extra two reps more than you do and you get up the weight Notice of so always has good training. But so I'm a big believer in that we really can't and do anything by ourselves. But that's why we say don't call me a self made man because I'm a product of a lot, a lot of help if it is in bodybuilding or just. I mean think about Joe weider after winning two Mr. Universe titles in London, the amateur missed Universe. The following year, 1968, the professional Mr. Universe. So I was like the youngest Mr. Universe ever.

[Theo Von]

And that was the year after you got second.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That's right. Okay, 1960 you were 20 years old. 1967 I was, was 20 years old. Wow. And everyone become the youngest Mr. Universe. And now I'm done that stage exactly where Rich park was and win the Mr. Universe. And not only that, but the Rich park immediately sent me a fax and to London. He said I would invite you to South Africa to give posing exhibitions and do strongman act down there. So I was invited by Rich park eventually. Then within a, by end of the year I went down to South Africa.

[Theo Von]

And you still hadn't gone to the U.S. yet.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I haven't gone to the U.S. what brought me to the U.S. was which was kind of my dream, someone would notice me in bodybuilding that it would take me to. Because bodybuilding was an American sport. Oh, it was a European sport. It was American sport really. And so I all of a sudden get this invitation from Cheetah who was the publisher of the muscle magazines. He published like four big muscle magazines, Flex and Strength and Health and, and.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, we used to get some of them I think when I was a kid.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And we didn't use them all of this. And he had also equipment company, the food supplement company.

[Theo Von]

Because it's weights, right? I've seen the weights before.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's, it's weights, it's the food supplements, it's. And his brother was the head of the organization, the Bodybuilding Federation.

[Theo Von]

And this is when you came to.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

The U.S. yeah, so he brought me over in 1968.

[Theo Von]

Okay, before we get there, Arnold, and not to interrupt or anything, but you did a show. You went to, like, one of the first interracial shows that was in South.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Africa, that was laid on.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that was later on.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So there was 1975.

[Theo Von]

Got it.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Okay, so you're absolutely correct.

[Theo Von]

So you get to the U.S. very good research. Do you remember your first. Thank you. Do you remember your first day in America?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, yes, it was in Miami. I. Oh, yeah, I went to Miami and I was competing there in a competition. And then after that, I came out to California and I was picked up in California at the airport by a bodybuilding photographer by the name of Arizela and Dick Tyler, who wrote for the muscle magazines. They picked me up and took me to an apartment that Joe Weider rented for me, and it was fantastic. I mean, from then on, I got all the help in the world now, because that's when I really realized the generosity of the American people.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I mean, they gave me. I mean, the bodybuilders. There was. Thanksgiving came up after that because I came over here in October. November was Thanksgiving. So there was. There was like this whole thing about, you know, giving me pillows and giving me blankets and giving me dishes and silverware.

[Theo Von]

Where. Were you homeless or something? What. Why were they giving you all that?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

When you move into an apartment?

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

What do you get? I mean, it was a furnished apartment.

[Theo Von]

And you were living in LA at that point?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, yeah, it was. It was in the Valley, over there in the Valley. And then all these bodybuilders came to me and they brought me all this stuff. It was like, unbelievable. So I could not even believe how generous they were. And this were all. This was a lot of times people that didn't know me at all. But just because bodybuilding and joining a club, you know, you become kind of part of that family. And so they were very, very sweet and kind, and I would never forget that. That's actually what made me then think about, well, when I ever make it, I will give that back. I will help other people myself. You know what did.

[Theo Von]

Like finding a gym that really fits you. Like, what's that like at that level of bodybuilding where there are a couple of gyms you tried out and you're like, this isn't it? Or did you already know where you wanted be to be?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I came over here. There was a Gym called Vince's Gym that had all the champions training.

[Theo Von]

Where was that located?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It was over in the Valley, Vendura Polat and North Hollywood and a very, very famous gym. This is where, you know, Larry Scott, Mr. Olympia, trained, and. And Don Howard, who was Mr. America, and Don Peterson, all those guys were training there. And then I ventured over here every so often for powerlifting. There was a gym called Gold's Gym. Not many bodybuilders trained there. Some, but I mean, not many. Most of them were like shot putters and power lifters and lift weightlifters and so on. And it was a much more rough gym. But somehow because of the Austrian gym where I kind of started the first three years in this weightlifting club, it reminded me of that. So I started getting more and more attracted to that gym and. And then they move from the Valley.

[Theo Von]

Over here to Venice.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

To Venice. And was still part of Santa Monica, actually. It was, you know, Ashland, one of the streets not far away from here. And then I went daily training there, and then Goldstein. Then other bodybuilders came from all over the country to train there too.

[Theo Von]

Because you were there because.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I was there. And that was Joe. We didn't started writing in his magazines about. Arnold is training Gorge Gym. And, you know, if you want to go and train in a great place, this is the place to go.

[Theo Von]

Was it hard for you to train? I mean, were people at that point just standing around watching you train?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, because there was a lot of, you know, I mean, this place was filled with great body.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I see. Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, yeah. So then others came out here from Florida and from Kentucky and from New York, and they all started joining Gorge Gym instead of training there. So this was kind of like the place that had the best bodybuilders in the world training in. Course, that's how Coach Gym became famous.

[Theo Von]

Ah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, because it was a little gym. It was not big. It was 3, 000 square feet, I think it was.

[Theo Von]

Well, I remember when I first moved to Los Angeles, we went to a firehouse. I don't know if it's still there or not.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Was that the place? It was a big protein place. It was like a. Was that.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I think, well, firehouse now is. Is a restaurant down there.

[Theo Von]

It used to be like a place where you could get literally like a bowl of chicken.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, yeah. You still can get. Get there. You can get great scrambled eggs, like.

[Theo Von]

30 eggs or whatever.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, exactly.

[Theo Von]

It's crazy. It was like. Yeah, yeah. I remember I ate. I ordered like a Month worth of food right there. Just for. Just at lunch. Yeah. It took me, like, five hours to get out of there just because I didn't want to. Like.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. I was never a big eater, so to me, that meant nothing. If I had a little steak and some. Two scrambled eggs, I was perfectly fine. I was full for the day. Not for the day, no. But let's say in the morning, steak and eggs or scrambled eggs or something like this. I always had to take protein drinks in between meals because I could never eat enough to get my 250 grams of protein, because I weigh 250 pounds. And the idea then was if every kind of pound of body weight you have, you should have one gram of protein.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. When. Because I used to buy. So I don't know if I used to bodybuild. I used to use steroids when I was, like, growing up and just lift weights a lot. I loved it for years, you know, and I think whenever I get, like, you know, whenever I quit working as much, I'll probably try to get back more weightlifting. Was steroids pretty popular then, or what was it like? Was that part of the. Because I'm sure it was part of the culture.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It well known. It was not yet. It was something that was in the beginning, very experimental.

[Theo Von]

So would you hear it, like, would it be, like, on the black market or it was just, like, public. It was just like, people would talk about it, like, as a supplement.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It might be in some places, was in the black market, I don't know. But all I know is, is that we always went to a doctor because they want to make sure that they measure your blood pressure and they check your health and all of that stuff because it has side effects and especially if you take it beyond of what they recommend. So if they recommend, let's say, one shot a week, and you start taking one shot a day or something, which is, of course, that the case a lot of today, that people are overdosing. And that's why you see some bodybuilders actually die because of the overdose of drugs and all this stuff.

[Theo Von]

Did you see friends go down that road or people as other bodybuilders go down that road where they would get addicted to it?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Not. Not in my days, it was the new. But now it's, I think, really somewhat, I would say, out of control.

[Theo Von]

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[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, I don't really. I. There's no move that ever made career wise. I thought that I had a real good nose when to make my moves forward and when I should retire from bodybuilding. When it felt like, okay, I don't have the Joy anymore. After six, after five Mr. Universe competitions that I won Mr. World and Mr. Olympia six times, I retired in 1975 after that competition in South Africa that you mentioned just earlier. So that was kind of the last competition. I did come back in 1980 again for the Mr. Olympia, but that was really just an afterthought. But I mean, Really, I retired 1975.

[Theo Von]

And after the South African show.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

After the South African show.

[Theo Von]

Tell me a little bit about that because I bet it was really interesting. Just South Africa is probably my favorite country. I mean, it is beautiful.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It is a gorgeous country. And of course, at that time, blacks and whites and everyone was separated. I mean, by separated, meaning they had different rights. You know, the whites were the one that ruled the country. The blacks were kind of kept down.

[Theo Von]

Was Desmond Tutu down there at the time? Do you know if he was speaking?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yes, it was. Of course he was. But I mean, the. The whites really were kind of in control.

[Theo Von]

They were the kind of. The leaders.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Exactly. The Dutch and the British. It was always a fight between those two in the parliament and all that. And so then I got to meet and to know the Minister of Immigration and he was also Minister of Sports and Minister of Labor and blah, blah, blah. So he was a very, very powerful guy in administration. And he. When I met him, he said to me, arnold, when you come over here to South Africa and you do posing exhibitions and strongman acts, you should also go to the townships.

[Theo Von]

To the townships. Yeah, yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So I said the townships like the soap Sowetos. Yeah. So it was. Of course, I did not know. So he then explained it to me. And then he would organize with the Reg park together for me to go in because it was not what we call the safest place in town. Not that they wanted to do harm to you, but I mean, for someone like me to come in there and do a demonstration there. Oh, I mean, everyone. Yeah, everyone could lit. I mean, they were drunk, they were celebrating that someone would come in and give them the respect and do something special for them. So very appreciative. Right. So I would go in there and I was in the cage into the.

[Theo Von]

SOS Is that what it's called? Can you bring that up for me, Nick?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. The townships, they're all over the place. In every, every. In every town in South Africa, there is townships like that there. Places where the blacks would live. Right. Very, very kind of flow.

[Theo Von]

They're called the Soetos.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Are they? That's one of them, yeah.

[Theo Von]

SOS Yeah, I think so.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So. So in any. In any case. So I will go in there and do a demonstration and do my posing and the lift weights and all of.

[Theo Von]

This kind of stuff in these, in these small, like, towns.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And there was like, you know, thousands of them surrounding. And then just they're not screaming loud and having the greatest time. And then we would go out.

[Theo Von]

Oh, they would put you on the grill. I'm surprised. I bet they were star. So hungry sometimes. They were like, look at this.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, it was, it was fantastic. The reception and everything. So. But the reason I mentioned that is because it led to the conversation with, you know, that minister of sports, and he said to me, he says we should have an international competition here in South Africa. He says we should work together on that. And I said, okay, we will. And his name was Dr. Kornhoff, Dr. Kornoff. And he was an extraordinary man, very, very smart. But it just shows you that there was people like him that already wanted to do more for the blacks and to elevate. Elevate them.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, so.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So he. So he. Then I set him up with Ben Weider, with Joe Weider's brother, who was the head of the International Federation of Bodybuilding. They got together and they hit it off really well. And so Joe Weider and Ben Weider worked with him and to bring the Mr. Olympia contest to South Africa, to Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. But the conditions were that they were able to have a mixed audience.

[Theo Von]

Okay, so black audience. Have they done that ever?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Never.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So there was. The first time there was black was blacks, but there was not just black and white in South Africa. There was a group, there was called Blacks. There was a group that was called Colored. There was a group that Was called Indians. There was a group that was white. I mean, there was like five different owned Asians. So everyone was. Was different. So everyone. A lot of variety was kind of like it was not considered. We are all equal there. Right. And so what Ben negotiated was that we have a mixed audience at anyone. No matter what the nationality and what the kind of color is or religious beliefs, anyone should be able to come to this competition. And also, not only that, but to be a judge. We will have also half black and half white judges, blah, blah, blah.

[Theo Von]

So was that scary to go before a black judge? Did you think that they would judge you fairly? I would be.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, not at all. Because they were not. I mean, I was competing in America at that time and I was used to it with Lyric Colbert, who was with the first guy with the 2100 and 22 inch arms. Big, big bodybuilder from the 50s and 60s. And he was a judge in New York several times. And he was a totally honest judge. There was other black judges that. So there was that. That's the great thing about bodybuilding. In bodybuilding, there was no prejudice. You know, there were some people in bodybuilding that were prejudiced.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

But in general, like especially under the leaders, the Weeders, I think, because they were Jewish.

[Theo Von]

Bring him up. Ben Weider.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I think it had something to do with the fact that they were that kind of open minded about it.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, a lot of times.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Exactly.

[Theo Von]

They're like the leaders in promoting diversity.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That's right. Yes.

[Theo Von]

There was no bridge have been.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

There was no. There was no prejudice there at all. And as a matter of fact, there was a guy by the name of Bob Hoffman. He always made sure that when they had the AAU, had the Mr. America competition in only whites could win, no black could win there.

[Theo Von]

Oh, really?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. So there was really embarrassing.

[Theo Von]

So there were some barriers within the.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

There was guys like Sergio Liver that would be competing in 1966 or 1965 in a Mr. America and he would get beaten by white guys. And it was totally unfair. Or Harold Poole got beaten in 1963 by Burn Viva, which I thought was unfair. So it was. There was this. So what they did then was because there was nothing. Two federations. There was the ifpp, there was the AAU in Napa. Aau. American Athletic Union. Yeah. And so they then went from that federation over to the ifbb and their Sergio Lever won, immediately.

[Theo Von]

Got it.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He became Mr. America. He became Mr. World and Mr. Universe, then Mr. Olympia. And he actually, in the first Mr. Olympia competition Sergio Liver beat me. Wow. 1969. Fairly. I mean, there was no complaints there at all because he was extraordinary. Right. And so then in 1970, I came back and I beat him in the Mr. World competition in Columbus, Ohio, and then two weeks later in the Mr. Olympia in New York. So. So we were big rivals. And that was, of course, a big admirer of his and a big idol. And he treated me really well. We went to Chicago and trained together at the Duncan YMCA and all that stuff. I wanted to learn from him.

[Theo Von]

I love the ymca, don't you?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, absolutely. It's great.

[Theo Von]

I've always been a fan of the ymca. It just kind of like they're always a little bit me. Like it's never perfect there, but everything's kind of like a little bit old enough where I like the equipment, you know, it's never too fancy.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. But you can get the job done.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So to me, it's not about the luxury. It's just much more about the will to succeed. And when I see pictures on line of bodybuilders that are training in the sand in Africa right now, Blacks that are having cement weights on a bar.

[Theo Von]

God.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And a cheap bench. And when they. They do their bench press.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And the other day I. I saw one of those kind of videos, and they get up from the bench. I'm looking at this as this guy could win Mr. America.

[Theo Von]

Wow.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Win Mr. California or something like that. And he looks extraordinary. So it's. It's really not the technology so much. It helps you. But I mean, on the end, it is really what you have to work on is the will.

[Theo Von]

The will was the best. There's nothing better than just having like a little weight bench outside in your backyard or something. And you go out there or in your garage and it's just.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I did my deadlift right in front of the house in. In Graz in entire. Where. Which now is a museum. At the house where I grew up.

[Theo Von]

In your home is a museum where you grew up.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

The. The home. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna go with you. In two weeks. So we have. Our Pump club is meeting there with the. The European bodybuilders members from the Pump Club. And then there's some Americans that also coming over there.

[Theo Von]

That audience in South Africa. What was. Did. Did it have the. The feeling during the show of like, this is like a novel thing. This is like a. Like, was there that energy in the. In the. In the event.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So much energy in that auditorium. And it was not a big auditorium. It maybe Held, I would say, 1500 people, I would guess. And it was. The energy was fantastic. The joy of being together was fantastic. And I really think they had a tremendous impact also in the future of South Africa. And it was just wonderful that there were leaders there that believed in that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And wanted to organize. And everyone, the police and everyone was really cooperative. Everyone worked together. So it was a fantastic show, the fantastic competition. And of course, I won. So it's always a fantastic competition. You know, when he went six, Mr. Olympia. But I. What was interesting about it was I got $1,000 cash prize, and I was really upset about that because I felt like, wait a minute, in 1965, 10 years ago, Sergio, Larry Scott, when he won Mr. Olympia, got a thousand dollars. And now, 10 years later, we still get a thousand dollars. So that's what made me actually motivated to go then in front of the ifbb, the International Bodybuilding Congress, and to ask them for permission to organize the next year's Mr. Olympia in Columbus, Ohio. And that's exactly what we did. I got the permission, and then we upped the cash price to $5,000, then to $10,000, to 20. We doubled it every year. And now this, now we're giving over a million dollars away for cash prizes for the Arnold Classic.

[Theo Von]

What's like, one of the things right before you go on, because I'm guessing you're backstage, right. You wait to go on, and they call your name out, and then you go out and do your poses. Is that how it goes?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Where it's. In those days, the way it worked was the whole lineup of all the competitors. Now, if they understand Mr. Olympia means that you have to have won a World Championship title before. So Mr. World, Mr. International or Mr. Universe. So those guys are the top guys. So you have like six or seven guys that are on the stage. And so the judges, they ask you to all to come out. You have a certain time at 1:00, be ready for pre charging, and then you come out, and then you stand there, and then the judges will shuffle you around. This is. Okay, can number seven go over where number one is until number one goes over where number seven was? You know, just see them next to each other, different people next to each other. There is a turn around, turn sideways.

[Theo Von]

Then what's the scariest way to be turned? Like, was there ever a part where you're like, this is. I gotta kind of cheat this angle a little bit?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, I mean, for me, it was basically always a tremendous joy to be up on stage because it's one of those things where you, where you feel like when you're really ready. I always felt kind of like in most cases that I was so ready that no matter what angle it was, I was ready to go. And I had always a smile on my face and I flexed everything. And you know, the key thing is that you have practiced your posing enough that you can stand there in a flexible. It looks relaxed. You stand there like this, but you still flex. You keep the stomach in and you keep the, the abs flexed and the calves flex the biceps and the dries effect. So that was the idea and I was always having great joy with that.

[Theo Von]

So it's a lot of acting too. It's kind of some acting up there.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It is the, one of the great forms of acting. Why? Because you cannot go and say to the judge, look at me, I'm the most perfect up here, look at my abs. No, you have to do all that without talking. You have to communicate with them and also with the audience because remember that the sound of the audience is very important because you want to get big applause. So the judge say, oh, this guy got the most applause. I mean, he definitely, you know, has the best body. So but then you wait for the, for the individual posing. So then you come at one after the next, you do a three minute posing routine.

[Theo Von]

And what's the tricks there? Is there any trick of the trade, a last minute thing you used? You would like pinch your, pinch your tits or just rub some just like molasses in your land. Like, was there, what, what was like a last minute thing people would do? Put ice under your arms or something?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, I, I think the key thing is just that you, when you go there, that you're so ready that you don't shake. You get how many bodybuilders, I'm sure you've seen it, they hit a shot and then they, after, after a few seconds they start shaking.

[Theo Von]

Oh, so that's bad.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, for that level, I mean, it's natural. When you have a Mr. Venice beach competition.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Mr.

[Theo Von]

Muscle Beach, Mr. Montgomery, Alabama. Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, beginners, of course, they make mistakes and they're not as well trained. But when you get to the Mr. Olympia level, it's unacceptable.

[Theo Von]

You want to make it look so.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That you want to hit the shot.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And you smile, you look at the judges and, and, and you smile and then you smoothly move into the next shot, you know, and then it hands you just a movement. It has to be all very gracefully and no shaking. So that again that you say to the judges, look, I am so ready for this. Unlike maybe the others, you know, so that's what it is. So it's all about the seven Ps, you know, the seven Ps. Proper prior planning prevents pissed. Poor performance. Right. In the Marines, they have that.

[Theo Von]

Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Exactly. So that's what it's about. It's the same there. You come prepared. You make sure that you work. Everyone has weak points, so you have to make sure that you worked as much in your weak points so that the judges see that you're not blind, that you notice that last year you maybe had not so defined legs. Yes. Maybe you won, but you. The legs were. So. So. And then the next year, when you come back, you have to have ripped legs.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Right. So then the judges say, that guy got the message. So this is what it's all about, because. And the end. You really are an artist. You're a sculptor. You're not just the athlete that's competing, but you're the sculptor. But you're on your own body. Instead of a chisel and a hammer that you kind of sculpt a physique, you do it now with machines and with the reps and the different exercises where you say, I need a little bit more of the real deltoids. I need a little bit more separation in the front between the deltoid and the pectoral muscle. I need a little bit more cut on the lower abs. I need. The calves have to be balanced. They're not big enough for the arms because it should be the same size as your arms are in all of those kind of things. So you become kind of like an artist in your own body. That's. That's what the idea is.

[Theo Von]

Was there a. Was it. Did you ever, like, have to work out the top of your feet or your hand? Were there things you could do for your face, even, and stuff like that?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, that's. I mean, there are people that pay attention to that. I didn't.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

To me, it's always about the bottom line.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So. But what is it that we're doing here? What we're doing here is we are showing the most perfect physique. And who is the best in actually displaying that physique? Because it's all about, you know, presentation, presentation, presentation. It's like a piece of art. You know, you can have a painting that is maybe amongst many other paintings, and you wouldn't even notice there a Picasso. But then when you put it up there on a white wall and did a beautiful gold frame with the special lighting. And then you have someone talk about it. Now you can auction something off for a lot of money. Right. So it's all about presentation. And so this is why I think the same is also in bodybuilding and the way you present your body, the way you, you present your, your muscles.

[Theo Von]

Indeed, at that point, I mean, I can see now how even like lobbying for certain things to be changing in, like in the prize money. Right. I can almost see where your direction comes to even end up in politics. Right. You can start to see it like, well, this should be more. This. There should be some adjustments. You weren't just like a competitor, you were also somebody who was examining how things were run and how they could be better. Especially when you were partnering with guys like Ben Wer and stuff like that, and probably inspired by those guys to probably get this larger vision of things that were going on. Did you, when you got into film? So at that point, you know how to act, you know how to impress the front row, you know how to use probably every element of your body to impress people. So that kind of just leans, leads kind of perfectly into acting.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. But remember that what is key and all of this stuff is also personality. And I don't know if you can train a personality or not. I mean, I don't know what you think about that, but I mean, I think some people just don't have the greatest personality. Some people, boring people, have a great personality.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, and so I think that I developed over the years, not that someone taught me that, but I developed a personality because my joy for whatever I did came through. So when people talk to me about bodybuilding in those days, I was not shy of the press. Other bodybuilders for decades didn't talk to the press. So when I came over here, people thought that when they saw my body, they thought it was a football player or it was a wrestler or something like that. But the last thing they guessed was a bodybuilder. So they didn't know about bodybuilding. So I, in 1974, I hired, I was the first bodybuilder to hire a publicist. And so we went and did talk shows, the Johnny Carson Show, Merv Griffin Show, Mike Douglas show, and all of those shows.

[Theo Von]

And were there football teams that tried to get you to come and play for them? Do you ever get an offer?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, because, I mean, I think I made it very clear in my interviews that my vision is be the greatest bodybuilder of all times. And to go then into acting. So even when people came to me, because I was always very good in business, I started business. I got my degree in business while I was over here and doing the training for bodybuilding at smc. Second.

[Theo Von]

Did you go to smc?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I went to Santa Monica City College, to UCLA and to, you know, got my degree in business and it was like business administration. And I was just naturally always gifted for making deals and being creative.

[Theo Von]

Got it.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, and, and, and, and I always understood how it works.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So in bodybuilding, for instance, it's one thing to say, okay, I'm gonna up the cash price to $20,000. Let's say from like within a three year period we had, we give away $20,000 and the beginning. But then you have to say, okay, where do we get this money from? Ah, sponsors, right. So now I have to go out and hustle the sponsors and says, now of course we have the biggest bodybuilding and fitness convention in Columbus, Ohio in the world. We have 200,000 people coming through there in three days. We have every company displaying their products there, their machines, the food, supplements, clothes.

[Theo Von]

Arnold.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

The Arnold Classic.

[Theo Von]

Arnold Classic.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's always the first week in, in, in March and it's three days, the whole thing. So, and now, like I said, now we raise enough money where we can give away over a million dollars. As a matter of fact, this coming year we're going to go in up to a million and a half dollars. So it's like, so it's all kinds of great things happening. But I was able to build it to that, right. Because I have a business mind, right, And I know exactly know how that works and how do we attract everyone and bring everyone together.

[Theo Von]

Were there women all weightlifting at that time or.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, you were the first Mr. Olympia company Ms. Olympia competition was a guy by the name of Schneider from, he was back east from the Philadelphia area and we did that together.

[Theo Von]

Oh, you guys started it?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. Well, yes, because the women were all kind of complaining, why can we compete? So we did a little shown, we called it Miss Olympia. And because the International Federation of Bodybuilding at that point had no interest in women bodybuilding.

[Theo Von]

Why was that you think? Was it just their view of women at the time?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, it's, at the time it's was. They were stuck and we created this federation for the guys.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Why are we, why are we getting. It's like gym owners like Joe Gord, he would not let women train. Why? Because, not. Because it was against women no, we love women coming in there. But he. He figured, I don't have the room for another bathroom here. I have 3,000 square feet. I've only for the man, the shower and the bathroom.

[Theo Von]

Some of those girls are pissed standing up, I'll tell you.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, but I mean, we had women coming in and they watches work out, but they couldn't train there until they got in a bigger space. And then women were included in the whole thing. And so the Federation was a little bit reluctant to do that. And when we did the Miss Olympia and all of the girls really enjoyed that, that they were able to go on stage to also compete. Yes, with the muscles and all that stuff. The Federation then woke up and they said, okay, we're gonna get involved in that and we're gonna go get. And since then it has been booming, you know, and they have been doing not only bodybuilding competitions, but, you know, fitness competitions and beauty company.

[Theo Von]

Does Arnold Classic have women's revision?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's great. I didn't know that. Sorry.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Oh, wow. Look at these chocolate babies right here, huh? Yeah. Everybody kind of gets chocolatier, huh?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

The tanned then. Now you have this tanning stuff.

[Theo Von]

Was it real tanning back then or was it.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No.

[Theo Von]

What was the key to the best tan? The best tan we got the best.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Tan that we could get. So I would work out a lot of times outside in the weight lifting platform in Venice.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah, I love that.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So. So you get kind of tanned all over the place, not doing chin ups and doing bench presses and incline and dips and all this stuff. Then we would jump in the ocean again, come back and work out some more and all this. But on the end, we then added to that 10, 10 in a minute by Helena Rubenstein. O. So I don't even know if this exists anymore, that they bring it up.

[Theo Von]

Tan in a minute, huh? But 60 seconds.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That was in. In those days, it was the big trick. So you put it on with the sponge, you know, you just poured it out on a little plate and put it on with a sponge. And you hit a buddy of yours that did your back and stuff again, the back of the thighs and all of that stuff. So this is what he did. That's why a lot of the day they spray it on, right? They have actual experts come to the bodybuilding show and backstage there's a people that manufacture the staining stuff and they would then help bodybuilders and spray it on and off that. So it is much more professional today.

[Theo Von]

But at the time. So you had somebody, they would put that tan in a can, basically put.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It in a bottle.

[Theo Von]

It was in the bottle and you'd have a friend do your back. Would anybody ever sabotage somebody and not do their back really good?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, but I mean, there were some people that were really stupid and then did not know how to put it on. They would show kind of like streaks of the. Of the. Because they didn't have a little mulatto around the wrist. So we put on just a light kind of layer. It was all about just a little subtle thing because it's not going to make you win. It just makes you. The photos look a little bit better when you have a little bit of color.

[Theo Von]

And what was it called if somebody went too dark? Would you just call them a little chocolate bunny or something? Like what you do if somebody.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It was up to the individual. As a matter of fact, I tell you that you can see in our Arnold classic a lot of times when the guys turn around.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You sometimes don't even know who is black and who is not.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, I know.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Because, because, because they're so dark now. The tanning has gone so sophisticated.

[Theo Von]

And look at this guy. I mean.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, so he's a perfect. When he turns around, you would think it's a black guy standing for sure.

[Theo Von]

And if you. A nutmeg fella. Yeah. That is just a little molasses baby. That's so remarkable. In business they say you can have better, cheaper or. Or faster. But you only get to pick two. What if you could have all three at the same time? That's exactly what some of the world's most innovative brands and AI tech companies have since they upgraded to the next generation of the cloud. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure OCI is the blazing fast platform for your infrastructure, database application development and AI needs. Where you can run any workload in a high availability, consistently high performance environment and spend less than you would with other clouds. How is it faster? OCI's block storage gives you more operations per second cheaper. OCI costs up to 50% less for compute, 70% less for storage and 80% less for networking. Better. In test after test, OCI customers report lower latency and higher bandwidth for versus other clouds. This is the cloud built for AI and all your biggest workloads right now with zero commitment. Try OCI for free. Head to oracle.com the that's oracle.com. theo. Okay, dad.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Showtime. No, I'm very protective of my team. Witness protection was our only choice. But all of us living under One roof can get awkward.

[Theo Von]

Nope. Oh, my God. Bad Donnie.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Bad Johnny.

[Theo Von]

Hello, Luke.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Crater underneath the foreign stars in a foreign place. East German spy disappeared in 1989. Everybody wants you. Cool dad.

[Theo Von]

Your terrorist friend is amazing.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Who the hell is that? Theodore Chips, former MI6 agent.

[Theo Von]

He works for me. Together we'll destroy the world. You're gorgeous.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Love changes hands.

[Theo Von]

Are you serious? You spying on us?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Spying on you.

[Theo Von]

Well, Emma's pregnant yet.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Got your phone? Dance with me.

[Theo Von]

I hope not. I may need it in the future.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Sex. She means sex. World War 3 is about to jump off.

[Theo Von]

Get out of there.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Ready?

[Theo Von]

No. No.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

One, two, three.

[Theo Von]

Hold on, old man. Boom.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I told you back.

[Theo Von]

I want to talk about your new show. You do have some. Some stuff. Just so we make sure we talk about it, man. Fubar. I watched the first episode, so I guess it's not out yet, right?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No.

[Theo Von]

And it's season two. It's kind of great because it brings me through all this, like, nostalgia of watching you over the years, right? Like, I feel like it's a little bit of all the. Like, to me, this is perception. It could be judgment, but a little bit of, like, all your roles into one. Did it feel like that a little bit when you're shooting it or what?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

The idea of the show is, of course, when you act out, then you find those moments where you can play off the different roles. But the idea of the show is just to do, like, what. What we did with True Lies. What Jim Cameron did with True Lies, right? So it was like, how do we go and do a show where you pack it with action and also with comedy, with a bit humor and also with kind of soap opera where it's relationships, interesting relationships, and so on. And so I think that the writers did a really good job because just like in True Lies, I'm the number one spy in this show and. But when I. When I come home, so I kick ass out there. I take care of the job all the time, wipe out the enemy. All the terrorists notice. But when I come home, I have to deal with the everyday crap, right? Like, we all do, right? If you have to worry about the kids, the wife is. The wife is mad at you because you were gone for a week again. And you couldn't really explain. You always. I always. Because my wife does not know that I'm a spy. So I always had to lie and have to have this equipment company and there's a health convention there. They have to go to this convention. I have to. Then I come home and have to make up stories. I said, the sales guys are really interesting. He said, I tried to sell my equipment there. And over they talked about his life cycles. All of a sudden they said, I was so upset about this whole. And so, you know, you just make up all these stories, which is. But I'm getting, you know, the, there's a divorce there. Then, you know, then my daughter all of a sudden is in the CIA and then she's also a spy and all of this stuff. So there's all these conflicts that are going on and it makes it a really interesting show then to watch because it's relationships, it's action, it's funny and all that. And so last show did very well the last series and now they did the second season and so now we see how that is doing.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I think there's like a level of also nostalgia just getting, you, getting to see you still operate in these roles. You know, like you've just, you've continued to keep your, I mean, you're, you know, you just continue to want to work. It does. Because you don't have to work anymore.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, let me tell you something. I love to work. Why? Because it makes you active. And I just think the most important thing is as we get older, you don't have to worry about any of that right now. But I mean, eventually you will. When you get older, you just, you have a tendency of sitting around, you have a tendency of not moving as much. And so it forces you. So when you do a movie, you have to get up at 6 in the morning, you have to get to the set, you have to go and prep, you have to go and practice the, the action and all that stuff in the fight scenes. You have to do the rehearsals of the, of the scenes and you work until night, right? Then you go home and you fall bed tired and then you get up again in the morning. So. And remember the most important thing for your brain is to go and practice and to kind of do challenging things with your brain so you don't get Alzheimer's and other kind of diseases like that. So it makes you memorize lines, long scenes, and especially in tv, you do like six to eight or ten pages a day or just keeping your brain active bring around. And then I play chess on the side when, while I'm waiting for the scenes and all this to just keep always going. So to me the important thing is because I feel like if you rest, you rust. And so it's all about movement. It's all about keep moving and Keep moving and keep challenging yourself, because as soon as we retire, you know, things go south.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I mean, there's just something that happens, especially Alzheimer's.

[Theo Von]

I mean, especially. It's Alzheimer, Schwarzenegger Alzheimer's. They're almost seem like they would be neighbor, you know what I'm saying? Like, no judgment or anything, but it almost seems like that would be. Be the one to look for you, because just your same letters, some of the same letters even.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I have enough with my heart problem, so, I mean, I don't have to worry about another problem for forever. You know, for the last 25 years. Had heart. Open heart surgery, you know, three times and all that kind of stuff, and valve replacements and. And all that stuff. It's a congenital thing from my. From my mother. She had it from her mother and all that stuff. And so I have to deal with that all the time. But everything is good because I train every day and I exercise and I watch what I eat, which is. I watch the food and then I eat it.

[Theo Von]

Did you ever have a stroke and you just kind of. You're like, I've kind of had that before. I can get through the rest of the day.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, none of that.

[Theo Von]

I'm talking about, though.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Like, did you ever have like. Because sometimes you'll get a pain or something. You're like, I think I'm okay. Did you ever have, like. I'm assuming if you had a life, a lifetime of like having heart issues, that you would start to be like.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, it was never. It was. I always was kind of front of the situation. So that means that I remember when I took my mother to the hospital here, when she was here visiting, she always had had an episode. And I took her to ucla. That's when we found out that she had a valve problem. And the doctor then said to me, he says, make sure that you also check yourself, he says, because this is something that's a genetic thing.

[Theo Von]

So it's almost like a gift that she got to be here and you got to go through that with her.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, exactly. So. So I, from that point on, always went with the doctor. And the doctor said to me, says, well, you have, you know, at one point he said, you have a problem with your valve, with your aortic valve, and you don't have to do anything. Now is his butt. As soon as we see it going down, we want to catch it before it goes down, because otherwise it affects the order itself and blah, blah, blah and all of that. So the bottom line is I stayed on top of it, novice. So when I got my surgery or about surgery, I went in there because I made an appointment. So there was no episode, there was no stroke, there was no heart attack or anything. Never had any of those kind of things. So I always was ahead of the game.

[Theo Von]

Was it scary when they put you under? Like, were you kind of scared? Did you make sure it was the best guy doing it?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Arnold, of course it's important.

[Theo Von]

Did you look him in the eyes and take him off side and say, let's make sure we do it good?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, I didn't have to do that. Now I, I think I would do that for sure. I knew this guy's history. Dr. Ston was his name. They did the first sur. First two surgeries and he was like the top of the top, you know, so there's no do is about it.

[Theo Von]

When you, you've. You've had such a, like, you've had a very blessed and interesting life, right? It's been, you know, and you've had it. So, you know, at what point you're probably. I would. It's. I think it's fair to say you're probably in the second half of your life. At what point do you like, do kind of like go like goals turn into like legacy? If, if in your mind at all, if it does. And I don't mean that to be a uncomfortable question. I'm just like, does your brain start to adjust where, like, these are my goals and then like, okay, this is a legacy that I want to leave. Does that make any sense or no?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I think it is always important to think about, you know, the idea of that we should leave the world a better place than we inherited it. And so I. My whole life was always about, okay, how can I make this a better world of the knowledge that I have? So, for instance, in fitness, in bodybuilding, I went around the world to promote the idea of weightlifting and weight training and resistance training.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Made it then popular, right? Because we had to figure out a way of penetrating through the general public that thought that bodybuilding is just, you know, flexing you, your muscles on stage. But they didn't realize that bodybuilding is something that you just get a healthy and stronger body for. Whatever you do, you maybe need it for tennis, you maybe need it for your bicycling, you maybe need it for your. Whatever sport. You know, like UFC fighters are working.

[Theo Von]

Oh, the first time I heard of fitness was through you. Yes, through you.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

But I mean, that was the idea is I wanted to not just lift myself up, but I wanted to lift the rest of the bodybuilding movement up. And so it was always something. So now, of course, 50 years later, there's a gymnasium in every hotel in the world. There is a gymnasium or weight room in every kind of a military installation of base.

[Theo Von]

There's those guys we saw there doing those curls with the cement. There's everything.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Exactly. People are lifting weights everywhere. Every high school, every college, every sports team, everyone has weight rooms. Yeah. So this is where we are now that. So this is why I felt really proud of that, that we were able, with the help of Jane Fonda and other kind of characters that were, you know, helping women with the fitness movement. And so we really elevated the fitness sport to something really also a huge economic, you know, contribution. Yeah, that it made. So to me that's important. When I became governor, I wanted to make sure that we have health care for everybody. I want to make sure that we have a cleaner environment, that we fight pollution and to pass laws to reduce the pollution in California by 25% and all that. So I continued on creating an environmental organization and to have our world summit in Vienna every year where all the environmentalists come together and talk about how do we go and fight pollution and orders of. So we have one coming up in 14 days now again. And so it's always after school programs. For instance, when I realized that our kids, that, you know, 70% of the kids come from a home where both of the parents are working, so there's no one there picking them up after three o' clock from the school.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So there's kids standing around after school and not doing anything. So then I found out where this is the danger zone for kids between three and six o' clock because there's no supervision. So they get involved with drugs, with gangs, with violence, with alcohol, teenage pregnancy. Oh, this cost the community a lot of money. Let's do something about it. Everyone was complaining about it, but they were not doing anything about it. So I stepped out and started the after school programs and it has been a huge hit. We have raised over the last 30 years.

[Theo Von]

Are they still open? The program started.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Billion dollars we raised.

[Theo Von]

Oh really? How much?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

All over the country we have been to millions and millions of kids we have helped with after school programs and with great success rates and all of this stuff. So to me it's all about how, how can I make this a better world.

[Theo Von]

So I see what you're saying. So you feel like a lot of your legacy has kind of been Lived along the way.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It. Exactly. It's not like I want. This is. Should be my legacy. I don't think that way. But I think about. I want to improve the world, especially now. But I mean, think about it. I'm an immigrant. I'm an immigrant that came over here and got every opportunity in the world because of America.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

America gave me everything. They gave me the money that they have made, the Korean bodybuilding, the career in acting, the wonderful family, all of that stuff is because of America. So to me, it's a natural thing that they give something back.

[Theo Von]

Hey, man, America, you're one of the most jacked immigrants too, that we've ever had. Probably, I think for sure.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I hope so.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, you do. And you're competitive about it. I love that. You know, I can feel how competitive you are. And that's great. You have to be competitive. Because also America is a platform for if you are competitive and if you choose to apply yourself, that you can reach some of your dreams and goals and aspirations. Do you think that it's still possible? Like you've had this. You've gotten to live in America for a while now and have a good breadth of understanding here. You've gotten to work in politics. Do you think it's the American dream is still possible? Or do you think there's. There's things happening these days that are where we're not helping that along?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I can tell you I didn't study this issue, right. So I couldn't really give you facts and figures. But what I can tell you is no matter where I go in the world today, people come up to me, says, arnold, can you please help me get to America? So that never has changed it. It doesn't matter to immigrants. People that want to come here, they don't know what the political situation. They don't care if the Democrat is in power or Republican is in power. What the Senate says, what the Congress says, what the governor said, nothing. They just want to come over here. They want to get a shot, you know, so this is what it is. And they have to do. Do it the legal way, you know, so that is the key thing to me, do it the legal way. So anyway, the bottom line is I think the opportunities are there. When I go down to Gold's Gym, I see this guy from Africa that was competing in my bodybuilding shows in the Arnold Classic and came was in one of the top three and all that. Then he became a personal trainer charging $200 an hour. He's driving up One day with his blue Bentley, the next day he's driving up with his red Ferrari. And I mean this, this is, this is a guy from Africa that came over here with nothing.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So this is a young kid, is like maybe 35 or 40 years old and look at what he does. So there's trainers down there that are from different countries. There's people, if you're willing to work. That's why I always say to people, say work your ass. Don't ever come. This is my big advice to immigrants. I said don't ever come over here to just use this country as it gives something back. Think about that. You want to work your ass off here, you want to educate yourself here, you want to contribute to America here, that's what you want to do. Because the very fact that you're allowed to come over here, you should go and have that mentality of wanting to give something back, that's the bottom line.

[Theo Von]

Amen, man. And I think that goes to it. Even as you're saying that, Arnold, it's making me think about like even a relationship stuff that I'm in or business situations. I should think of most things as that way. Like let me give something to this, right? Whatever this is. If this is a relationship with a spouse or a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a. If it's a team that I'm on or just a commitment I've have, I'm going to spend an hour with my son or your or my mom to do something. Let me give something to this. Right. Let me not just take even this moment for granted, whatever it is, let me be here and be present and apply myself. Right. So that we create something that just. So I'm honoring the fact that I even have this moment in time.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And let me tell you something, that as soon as people realize that they're not self made, that there were a lot of people involved in where you are today, a lot of people, you couldn't operate without the engineer, you couldn't operate without the deal that you got to do this and blah blah, blah and all this kind of stuff. You have to recognize that because when you recognize that you're not self made, that people have helped you, that is what makes you think, click and say I got to now help other people. I have the responsibility to help other people. And then you realize how much joy it brings you when you see that you have an impact and you can help other people. That's why we have the Pump club and that's why we do The Arnold Classic and the promotion of bodybuilding and environmental stuff and the after school programs. I mean, to go to one of this after school program conventions and to hear the kids stories, it just makes you feel so good that you did that, that you raised the money. We have poker tournaments at my house where we raised like 7, 8 million dollars sometimes and then we put this right into the after school programs. So this is where the action is and you can do all of that because as I always say, the day is 24 hours and I talk about at great length in my book and it'll be useful. I talk about all of those kind of principles of giving back and having a vision and don't listen to the naysayers and all those kind of things.

[Theo Von]

Who do you go to for your like your inspiration? Do you have like a coach or a mentor over the years? Have you had like, like you go to Tony Robbins? Do you hire some of these guys who are really good at this type of stuff to help you in certain speed bumps in your life?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I would say that I have always had mentors. Like I, you know, the weeders that did help me and I looked up to them. Reg park is something then bodybuilding that I looked up to, then later on was like Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California, then became president and Nixon people that I looked up to, or George Schultz who was Secretary of state under Reagan that then became my mentor when I became governor and told me about how to work together with Democrats and Republicans and not just it's my way or the highway.

[Theo Von]

Did you get to meet Reagan?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, for many times.

[Theo Von]

Oh, really?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, yeah.

[Theo Von]

Wow. What was he like?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I was at the White House, I was invited to state dinners there and everything like that.

[Theo Von]

They have good food over there. Second Good food over there, huh?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh yeah, yeah. They know how to cook.

[Theo Von]

Hell yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but there's. And then also Nixon. I mean, I was down at the Nixon Library. I remember in the early 90s and that's when Nixon just without telling me, called me up on stage and wanted me to give a speech, you know, So I told him how I became a Nixon fan. And you know, when I came over here to this country and all that stuff, he loved it. He said to me, he says, ah, you should become governor of California, you know, and so it was like, it was really great. So he was one of the guys that always pushed about.

[Theo Von]

That's awesome. That's Bob Hope right there.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, exactly.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, I just got back, I just did a show In Qatar. Qatar. Qatar.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, you did.

[Theo Von]

It was pretty cool. Yeah, I happened to just be over there. Trump was over there speaking too, at the same day. But we just did a show for the troops.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly. But this is a great thing that you do.

[Theo Von]

It was awesome.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I tell you, there's nothing that they appreciate more than to go there and do schmooze with them, take photographs with them or tell them some jokes.

[Theo Von]

Yes.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I remember. I did it with Jay Leno.

[Theo Von]

It was hit or miss. There we are right there.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, man, look at that. That's what I Look at that team.

[Theo Von]

A couple cluck sandsmen. That's the joke I made.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, Pretty good joke.

[Theo Von]

I think it's good. Yeah. Do.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

When you look, you do that. Do you do that often? You do shows for.

[Theo Von]

I did it for a long time and then I've taken a break recently. Yeah, yeah, I. I did it for a long time and then I've taken a break recently. But this really reignited me on it. I was actually texting a couple friends of mine and saying, let's go do some just even close bases that are close to us in America. Just whatever we can. Let's start to do it a little bit more. And I think we're going to start to do it more. So I'm really excited about that. I feel really lucky. I mean, my whole job is freedom of speech. Right. So it's like if people aren't protecting that, you can't even be a comedian in some countries, you know.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Of course not. Yeah. No, I, I think it's a great idea. And of course, I remember that in, when I was in my height, in my bodybuilding days, I was invited to go on the aircraft carrier Norfolk, Virginia, and to go and train with the sailors. Oh, and to show them how to exercise and all that stuff. It was fantastic. Was up there and I said ever since then, I really found it really enjoyable to go. If it's down here near San Diego, the Pendleton or any of those military bases, or if I go to Seoul, South Korea or the Japan or anywhere I go Middle East, I was in Kuwait and visiting them.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's fun over there, working out with them. It's like three, four in the morning. Dude.

[Theo Von]

When I work out with them, they don't give a. I'll tell you that.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, I tell you that there's some really serious lifters there.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. But they do not. Yeah, they do not want to see me do anything. I usually stand on the side and just drink. I'LL have a little bit of a protein shake. But when you. What about, like. Like, was it hard with your whole life, Was it tough to be. Like, was it ever tough to be a good husband or be a good dad? Like, if. If so much of your job takes, like, your work side of you? Because I noticed for me, like, I'm not married yet. I would like to find a wife, but it's hard for me to even find time, you know, like, is it tough, like, were there moments where. Because your life gets so big, right? And you've had a big life. I mean, there's like, you, Arnold, and then the other guy. Hey, Arnold. He's a drawing, I think, right? So you're the. You're like, the name is yours really, Right? Like, does it ever get hard to be a parent or something because of how big your.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Let me tell you something. Everything that you want to do that is really good and you want to go all out, it's difficult. It's challenging. But I was very fortunate because I married a woman that understood that I have to work, and she didn't complain about it, you know, so we got together and they understood that right away because of the family. She came from the Kennedy family, right? So Maria Shriver was like. She understood that all of her.

[Theo Von]

Bobby Kennedy. She related.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Bobby. Yeah. So. So if it is, you know, John F. Kennedy, if it was Bobby Kennedy Senior, you know, when he ran for president, I mean, all her father ran for president and for vice president and all of this. So. So she was used to that. Everyone has to go out and work.

[Theo Von]

The energy.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

They left the house in the morning and they came back late at night and. Or like, for instance, then later on, you know, was traveling around the world for Special Olympics because. And her mother was also a workaholic, and so she understood that. And so when I was going on location, when we had kids, she would go and she would stop. Her job in New York, the NBC job that she was hosting the morning news, and she would stay home. She would stay home, and she was there with the kids. And so this is why we have four terrific kids that we created together. And Patrick, of course, we're very proud of him.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. I love his new show.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

The show.

[Theo Von]

So cool. He did a great job.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He did a fantastic job. And, you know, Catherine is fantastic and writes books and all this stuff.

[Theo Von]

And who are your other two children? Just.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So we are Christina and Christopher and Christopher. And Christopher is also in show business. He's, you know, working for a production company he reads more scripts than I ever read in my whole life. But I mean, so it's. It's really great to see all the kids then have one son outside the marriage, which is Joseph. And Joseph is also doing terrific in real estate. And so. So it's. That the. It's a key thing is to really concentrate on being a participative father when you have kids, because you got to go. They want to see you ski. When you go up and say, let's go skiing, they don't want you to just send them up in the mountains in the cold weather. They freeze their butt off. They want to see you sitting on the chairlift, go up with the skis and ski with them. So that's what they did. So they, they. Of course, they hated it when they were kids. They said, oh, daddy, let's go in. I want to get a hot jacket. They said, there is no hot jacket. There's skiing. I said, this is ski mountain, not a hot chocolate mountain. So what's the matter with you kids? You know? And then they were crying on the chair, and the people were going up there and the chairlift, and we were skiing down and skiing down for three, four hours. And then we had the hot chocolate and with the lunch and all this stuff. And now when they go up to S Valley and go skiing, they stop me and they said, dad, I just want you to know how much I appreciate that you made a ski, because now I ski fantastic. I can go down on any run.

[Theo Von]

And they think of you when they do it.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That's what I always tell my friends. I said, don't just go and take pictures of them skiing. No, you put the skis on, you would just keep boots on and you go and do it. It's the same with playing soccer. I was playing soccer with my son, and always you got to go and participate in all of this stuff. And so this is what I believed in. I went to all the games with my wife. Oh, damn. And so, brother, well, any liver wits can make anyone look good, I guess.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. My gosh. No, but you know what I just gather from so many things is just the application of self. Right, right. And that you have to go get it. You have to go do this. Right? Yeah. Do you know Bobby pretty good? Bobby Kennedy's a friend of mine. Yeah, yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Bobby. I mean, is. Let me tell you something about Bobby. I mean, he's a great guy.

[Theo Von]

Oh, he's one of my favorite. He's one of my favorite guys.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Thank. Think I know him.

[Theo Von]

From recovery. We go to recovery meetings together.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

But think about this for a second. I'm running for governor in 2003, and then all of a sudden, they get a phone call from Bobby, who I knew very well, and Bobby and Joe Kennedy, his brother, his older brother. And they were always really kind of nice to me and kind and inclusive and stuff like that.

[Theo Von]

Well, you. You're the damn Terminator. They got to be at least.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, no, But I mean, you know, some people are kind of like, who is this new guy coming into the family type of thing.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I see. Especially their family, because it's a prestigious thing.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That's right. Yeah. So. But they were really nice. So Bobby calls me and he says, arnold, you're Republican. Republicans are not known for the environmental record. He says, I'm an environmentalist. He says, yes. You know, I'm the head of the River Keepers and all that stuff is. And I have a guy that you should have a new team that can educate you, really, about the environment. I said, think about it. It's really nice. Who is it? Terry Taminan. He says, let me send him over to your office. He sent over Terry Taminan. We hit it off right away, really well. And the next thing I know is, is that we're working together. He's part of the team. And then when it became governor, and I think that contributed to me becoming governor because I sold this whole idea that I want to be environmentally friendly, I want to reduce greenhouse gases, I want to get the environment, that renewable energy up in California and all of this stuff. So I become governor, he becomes now Terry Tamman and becomes the head of the EPA and all of this. But this all happened in my knowledge about the environment. All this happened because of Bobby Kennedy. So that's the kind of a guy he is. I mean, he's like, didn't say, oh, you're Republican. I'm going to campaign against you. No, he was 100% on board. He wanted to wish me good luck, and he did wish me good luck, and he wanted me to win, not because I'm a Republican. He just felt like, oh, I like Arnold. I want.

[Theo Von]

I want the good guy to win, no matter what side he's on.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Exactly. So that's the kind of a guy Bobby is, you know? So I'm. I think the world of him.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, he's cool. We had him on the podcast when everybody was thinking he was kind of crazy during the pandemic and stuff, and he was concerned about just people's health and well, being with vaccines and stuff. We had him on and. But yeah, I've always known him to be just a neat guy, you know, he's my friend. Yeah. I'm excited for him. I'm curious to see what it's like once you get into office. How can you still keep your beliefs or not, or do things get heavily compromised?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Do you feel like it is compromised? You have to. You have to compromise because the whole world doesn't think exactly like you. Remember what Eisenhower said? Eisenhower said that politics is like the road. The left, the right is the gutter, and the center is drivable. And that's exactly the way it is in politics. You have to understand that there's a sweet spot, you know, like the teaching golf. Hit the sweet spot. On tennis, to hit the sweet spot. Notice you. There's a sweet spot to find. Exactly. So you can get a deal made and that you can move things forward. It's not exactly your way. I mean, I remember with the infrastructure, I wanted to build $100 billion worth of infrastructure, but they only agreed on and around $60 billion. So it didn't get my way with the financial situation. I wanted to wipe out the deficit, and I was not able to do that with all these Democrats around it. They love to spend money, so. So I was. I was stuck with it. So. But the fact of them is we could improve the situation. And I was able to work together with the Democrats on environmental issues and infrastructure issues and so many other health care issues, so many other issues, education and all of this stuff. And we did really find it at a great time up there being governor of the state of California.

[Theo Von]

But it's about compromise. I mean, you've said before that you can't do everything. You can't do it all by yourself.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

It's not a dictatorship, you know, Know. So you have two parties. If ever in. Within your own party, they think differently. So that's. You have to face reality. The trick is just to be. Do not hate the other side because they think differently. It's just kind of like figuring out how can we work together and how can we do something that's really good for the people?

[Theo Von]

That's the bottom line they just had. Do you think we'll ever have a Republican governor again in California?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, you know, if someone has a good program and if someone is organic. I mean, with me, it was possible because I had a great mentor, number one, which was Pete Wilson, who was a governor of California two terms, and he helped.

[Theo Von]

Petey Wilson.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. Pete Wilson, Yeah. And he helped me, you know, with the race a lot. And then I also was organic because, you know, people saw that I did not come out of nowhere where I always had went from acting to politics. I mean, I had. Was working with Special Olympics for decades, going around the world to help Special Olympics and to get recognition for them and to be able to get jobs and to have, you know, be able to live everybody anywhere they want and to get into sports, Special Olympics sports programs in orders, powerlifting and all this. So I want always fighting for equality, including in South Africa with Nelson Mandela. We were there together fighting for Special Olympics. So the people in California saw all of that.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And also me starting the after school programs and having an initiative that I went to the people a year before in 2002, and the people voted 57 in favor of that initiative after school programs. So I was already in there and I was working with President Bush, being the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. So I was already giving back and giving back and giving back. So when I said, now I'm not interested anymore in just doing another movie, I'm more interested in getting the state of California back on its feet because we had blackouts with huge deficits. You know, the illegal were getting driver's license. There was all kinds of crazy stuff that was going on here. And I said to myself, you know, that the Indian gaming, they didn't pay taxes and they did all the gaming and made billions of dollars and their workers compensation costs were high and people were moving out with their businesses in California. I say, I will bring California back. No matter how many people were campaigning for Great Davis, who was governor then, you know, Clinton came out and campaigned for him. Gore came out in a. John Kerry came out, Al Sharpton, all of those guys came out to campaign for him. I said to Bushes, no, no, don't come out. I don't need that. It's between me and the voters.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And so I convinced the California people and that's how I became governor. That's why I got a huge majority of votes. And. But it was organic. So many of the guys come from, from real estate and say, well, I want to be governor. I have the money now and I want it. People don't buy in on that stuff.

[Theo Von]

Right. You can't just buy it. You can just buy it. You had Bloomberg tried to do it a few years ago. It didn't work.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, you have to be real, you know, and you have to be able to have a Vision, remember? Again, it goes back to the book, you know, be useful. You have rule number one is you have to have a clear vision. You can't just say, I want to be governor. What is your vision? If someone sits down and said, what is your vision of your California?

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, remember that Teddy Kennedy, the problem he had when they asked him, Roger Mudd asked him when he announced to run for president, Arach asked him, he says, why do you want to be president? Teddy couldn't answer it. You know what I'm saying? So he was like, well, my mother Rose, she always taught us to give something back, you know, so it didn't work. People didn't buy. And even though he was a great public servant, they did a great job, Senator, but he couldn't sell it. So you have to come out of the gate and really be very forceful and know and let the people know I know what they want to do, and I'm going to fight for you. Let's fight for me. I'm not, I don't want to be a political hack. I don't want to be just another Republican that wins the thing. No, I want to fight for you. So that was the, the, the whole theme of the campaign.

[Theo Von]

They have like, they just had where they found like 20 something billion dollars that was like, it was supposed to be earmarked for homeless help in, in California that went missing. Right. How does money go missing once you're in these places? Do you think, is it just like people? What does it say? Newsom confronted at press conference about 24 billion spent on tackling homelessness. Like, how does, how does stuff like that. And not. It didn't have to be this specifically, but once you're in office and you see these huge amounts of money, how does, how does stuff like that just go by the wayside, where it gets, you know, lost or missing? Hypothetically, do you think?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Well, first of all, let me just say, none of those politicians, I would want to run my company.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

None of those companies. None of those politicians. I would like to hand over my checkbook, my bank account, and say, you manage it now. That's where it starts. They're not that smart when it comes to solving problems. And so I can totally understand how $24 billion is missing because it's wasted. They cannot even show it. They cannot even have any accountability. Yeah. But this has been going on for 20 years now. I know this men are talking about. Just for the last few years, this has been going on and on. Everyone has been complaining about the homeless. But they don't create, they don't really tell you that this was created by the politicians, the homelessness.

[Theo Von]

Did Reagan create it though?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, no, it was, it was created by having people go and say, we don't want no growth in California. So when you have 19, when I came over, it was 19, 20 million people in California. Well, they built six lane highways. So now when you go to 40 million people, you would know mathematically. Now you need 12 lane highways, meaning six lanes. Then on top of it you build another freeway. Right. So you don't have traffic congestion. But that's not what they did.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Then when you have to, you know, when you go from 20 to 40 million people, then you need twice as many houses. Yeah, you need twice as many apartment buildings, you need twice as much of everything, schools and everything. And they didn't, they didn't take care of them because the environmentalists thought that if we say no growth, then no one will come. But in the meantime, no one gives a shit about that. They come anyway. And then they somehow then live three people in one apartment or five people in one apartment or sometimes with, with, you know, workers that sometimes live 10 people in.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, they'll really be laying on each other's back then.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

What happens now is when you have a limited amount of housing now, the prices rise. So now when the prices go up, the value of the apartment building goes up. So the unit that used to cost $600 now costs $3,000 a month. But the salaries, the wages didn't go up accordingly. So now you have people that are economically homeless, they cannot afford paying for their rent anymore. So this is created by the politicians. And now remember what Einstein said, the people that created the problem cannot solve it. So they are doing the same thing over which is another thing Einstein said. If you try to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, that's the definition of insanity.

[Theo Von]

And it feels like that's what we're living.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

So this is what we're dealing with here. So we have, you know, the city here is not able to manage with this, this whole thing on the state level. We are not able to manage this whole thing. So it's like I had to go. I mean, we had the homeless veterans camping out in front of the Veterans Administration up there in Westwood.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, right over there, 405 in Santa Monica front.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Right in front of the, the. For years they're camping out there and no one is helping them. So I went and I started making A deal. And I said, can we not put inside some houses, little houses? They said, yes. And we started. I donated the money and we started building houses. And since then, there's now hundreds of houses inside the Veterans Administration and the homeless are gone because they. They wanted to help the Veterans Administration. But it took a while and the city kept saying, oh, it is too difficult to do, and this is really challenging to do. I said, watch that. For within two months we had those houses there and we created homes for 25 people so they could move in just to show to the city it can be done.

[Theo Von]

Amen.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Don't give me this. It can't be done. Anything can be done. If there's a will, do it with the. With the whole thing.

[Theo Von]

Amen. I have two quick questions for you, just about people. Thank you so much for your time today, Arnold. Thanks for the inspiration. I feel like this has been an inspirational conversation for me. You never know what certain conversations are going to be like. Thanks for your contributions to entertainment and to just. It's evident that you, you know, you are the American dream. And you make me feel like it is still possible, which I don't know if I even felt like that when I started this conversation. Did you ever get to meet Michael Landon before?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No.

[Theo Von]

You didn't? I love him. He was one of my favorites. And he never get to meet Michael Jackson before.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

What was he like? Do you have any good, like a cool story about him?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Really nice man. I mean, he was very nice. He came to my trailer several times when I was filming over there in Universal lot the studio. And then we had also dinner several times. I remember one time with Katzenberg and maybe it was even Katzberg that organized it. I cannot remember anymore. But I mean, yeah, I mean, he was a wonderful, wonderful guy.

[Theo Von]

Would he tell stories and stuff like regular people? Because they always make him seem so quiet.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

No, no, he's quiet. And it could be because he wanted to protect his voice. And he was odd. Yeah, no two ways about that. But he was very, very nice and very interesting and fascinated about different things and. And he was many times also felt like you're talking to a child.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I could see that for sure.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

You know, he would shift into this thing with things that. That children are really into. You know, kind of like riots and Disney or something like that that he would talk about. That really interested him. And so it was. It was kind of a interesting thing. But you can see the way he grew up and with the amount of fame that he had, how difficult it must have been for him to handle all that.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I can't even.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

To be this genius of a musician, I mean, it's, like, unbelievable. And it's sad that he got addicted to this kind of, you know, sleeping thing.

[Theo Von]

Propofol, I think, or something.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. And then took too much of it and. And passed away. It was a huge loss for the world because he was just such a fantastic entertainer.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Yeah. I'll see his children every now and then. I cross paths with his daughter every once in a while.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Anything else that you want to show? I think it's been a good conversation. Do you guys feel like that?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I think that the key thing is, is, you know, that we pump up. You know that while you're airing this interview that you show every 10 minutes a trailer of FUBAR. FUBAR.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And then while I'm talking, you show a little bit of clips again, and then a little bit of that. Let me help you with the editing. Okay.

[Theo Von]

Hey, I promise you this. I will certainly support it, and I'll watch some more of it. I'm gonna get some of my friends to watch it. We grew up watching just so many movies. The lady with the three breasts, remember that one? She was.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

God.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, yeah. From Total Recall. Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Theo Von]

I recall those a lot, brother. You know?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

And I totaled them up three every time, you know, but thank you for that. That was the first breast I was ever allowed to see a little bit, so. But thank you so much, man.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Absolutely. It was great. And remember, I hope this is not the last time. Time they do it again sometimes.

[Theo Von]

Oh, no. I would love to do this again. Yeah.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

That was fun. I really enjoyed that.

[Theo Von]

Thank you so much. Oh, one more. Just say something nice about each one of your children so one day they'll be able to see this really fast.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Whoa. I'm proud of all my children. I'm very proud of Catherine, who has three kids now herself and who's writing books. And she's the greatest mother. She's just like her mother Maria. That was a really fantastic mother, and I'm very proud of her. I'm proud of Christina, who is also, you know, into producing and doing, you know, TV shows, documentaries and all that.

[Theo Von]

Here in Los Angeles.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. And then maybe I. Of course, Patrick Schwarzenegger, you know, you.

[Theo Von]

Just saw his new show.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He's so good. He's doing really well. I'm so happy that his acting career is taking off. You know, this is something that he really was very passionate about always. Christopher is Doing a great job. I mean, he just lost 150 pounds.

[Theo Von]

No way.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah. So he used to weigh 350, is now down, like, to 210 or something like that.

[Theo Von]

Oh, he must be feeling so much healthier, huh?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

He feels really great. Works at Engage Gym every day. And I know that's. I'm really proud of him.

[Theo Von]

You get to see him there sometimes.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah, I see him all the time. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And then, you know, Joseph is a fantastic human being. He's into real estate, he's into acting, and he's going into training. He works out all the time. So I'm really proud of all of them. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Well.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

And none of them is in the drugs. None of them is the alcohol and any of this thing. So it's really fantastic to see them. And even. And I have also a nephew here. I mean, that is a really fantastic. Patrick Knapp. Patrick Knapp is Catherine Entertainment. He's my entertainment lawyer. I mean, so I brought him over from Austria because my brother passed away. So he's. This is Patrick, right?

[Theo Von]

This is your brother's son?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yes, my brother's son. No way. So he. He was three years old when my brother passed away, and then. So he went to school over there and everything. Then they brought him over to also go Santa Monica College, go to ucla, go to Hastings Law School.

[Theo Von]

That's your path. Santa Monica, ucla, right.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Did he. Does he remind you of your brother?

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

Oh, yeah, yeah, he reminds me a lot of my brother. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

That's awesome. I'll bet your brother's super proud of you, man. And thank you so much, Arnold, for just all your contributions and for your time today.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

My pleasure.

[Theo Von]

If you guys go watch fubar now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger]

I must be cornerstone.

[Theo Von]

Oh but when I reach that ground I'll share this piece of my life I can feel it in my bones but it's gonna take a little.