This Past Weekend with Theo Von - #587 - Arnold Schwarzenegger

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00:00:30.000 Today's guest is a legendary actor, bodybuilder, tastemaker, really, in the world of bodybuilding.

00:00:39.060 He was the governor of California.

00:00:41.240 When you think of the American dream, he is pretty much it.

00:00:45.200 The second season of his Netflix show, Fubar, is dropping soon.

00:00:51.060 We're going to talk about that.

00:00:52.160 And a lot more.

00:00:53.020 I'm honored to sit down with the one and only Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:00:58.340 Shine on me.

00:01:02.580 And I will find a song I've been singing.

00:01:07.060 I'm honored to sit down with the one and only Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:01:09.400 I'm honored to sit down with the one and only Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:01:11.400 And now I've been moving.

00:01:15.300 So where do you work out of, where do you work out of normal?

00:01:19.180 I live in Nashville, Tennessee now.

00:01:20.980 Tennessee.

00:01:21.540 Yeah.

00:01:21.780 I lived here for about 12 years.

00:01:23.520 That's a growing city now, isn't it?

00:01:25.120 Yeah.

00:01:25.920 It's growing fast because it's safe.

00:01:27.880 They have, you can have a weapon if you need to.

00:01:32.100 So you can, you know, I think there's that semblance of you can take care of yourself type

00:01:35.480 of energy.

00:01:36.320 Right.

00:01:37.100 And so, and it's a friendly community and it's very safe.

00:01:40.740 You know, it's like a lot of cities, some of them get kind of dangerous.

00:01:43.300 It's known for its country music, right?

00:01:45.240 Yeah.

00:01:45.780 Did you ever listen to country music growing up?

00:01:47.180 Yeah.

00:01:47.660 I mean, that's, well, no, it's growing up.

00:01:50.500 Growing up was kind of rock and roll.

00:01:55.820 You know, the fifties, rock and roll.

00:01:58.880 Did they have any, because you grew up in Austria, right?

00:02:01.240 Or to what age?

00:02:02.120 Austria.

00:02:02.580 Yeah.

00:02:02.760 I was an Austrian until I was 19.

00:02:05.120 Oh.

00:02:05.660 And so we were, there was a program that was called Hit Parade.

00:02:14.060 And the Hit Parade.

00:02:15.660 A television show?

00:02:17.200 No, no.

00:02:18.520 We didn't have television.

00:02:20.780 So we just had the radio at home.

00:02:22.420 But I had then bought, I was like 15 and I just bought my first transistor radio.

00:02:29.380 Yeah.

00:02:30.180 In a little plastic box, right?

00:02:33.200 And I paid off like 50 shilling a month until it was paid off a year later.

00:02:42.660 But then that I always took down to the lake where I grew up.

00:02:46.140 And we were sitting around with the boys from a village.

00:02:50.180 And we were listening to this Hit Parade.

00:02:51.880 It was from 7 to 8 at night on Wednesdays.

00:02:54.760 And there was like Little Richard and Chuck Berry and all of those guys that were, you know,

00:03:00.200 big in the 50s and 60s.

00:03:01.600 Good guy, Ms. Mahler.

00:03:02.680 And so I grew up with that.

00:03:04.200 And that's why I have that station in my radio 50s at all times.

00:03:09.020 Oh, so you still listen to it.

00:03:10.160 I just listen to it.

00:03:10.860 I just love it, right?

00:03:12.700 Then when I came over here, I became aware of a little bit of the country, Western kind

00:03:18.160 of music.

00:03:18.920 Did you go to a concert in Austria?

00:03:20.460 Was there a concert you ever went to before you came here?

00:03:22.280 No, no, I could never afford a concert.

00:03:23.420 Are you kidding me?

00:03:24.480 I had no money.

00:03:25.320 But I mean, when I came over here, I then became aware of the country, Western songs,

00:03:33.120 especially Johnny Cash, he'd done a television show, a weekly television show.

00:03:39.120 And it was great, great music.

00:03:41.600 And so I fell in love with that.

00:03:44.120 And then friends of mine here in America then took me to concerts.

00:03:49.900 You know, it was like a jazz concert or a country Western concert and all of this stuff.

00:03:56.280 And so that's when I started really getting into it.

00:03:59.600 But I mean, I loved the music.

00:04:00.600 But I mean, you grow up in Austria, the most of the stuff that you hear is really Austrian

00:04:04.720 music, you know, the Umpadla, Umpadadalea, and all this kind of thing.

00:04:09.500 Is it beautiful music?

00:04:10.660 Beautiful music.

00:04:11.460 But I mean, that's what you hear on public radio and public television also.

00:04:15.580 That's what you see.

00:04:16.560 And you see operas and you hear concerts.

00:04:22.220 And my father himself was a musician.

00:04:24.700 He played six instruments.

00:04:27.260 Six instruments?

00:04:27.920 Yes.

00:04:28.400 Wow.

00:04:28.600 All kind of like a fleekly horn, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, all of the stuff like that.

00:04:35.880 A lot of traditional music he would play?

00:04:37.440 Yeah, yeah.

00:04:37.840 Very traditional because he was the conductor of the Chantemarie music, which is the police,

00:04:44.100 the country police, like the sheriffs.

00:04:45.440 Chantemarie it's called?

00:04:46.500 Yeah, Chantemarie. 0.98

00:04:47.120 It's a French word, a chantemarie.

00:04:50.240 And so he was a chantemarie.

00:04:53.920 He was a police officer.

00:04:54.960 And so he played in that Chantemarie music.

00:05:00.480 Would he play at home or where would he play at home?

00:05:02.280 He practiced at home.

00:05:05.560 You know, while I was training, I remember, I was doing my workouts and he would be standing,

00:05:11.460 the window would be opened up at our house and he would be kind of playing out to the

00:05:18.200 window, out the window.

00:05:19.140 And there was a kid that was my age that lived 150 yards away from us.

00:05:27.400 He was one of my best friends.

00:05:28.820 And he also learned how to play the trumpet at the age of like 13 or 14.

00:05:33.420 So he would play over there and then my dad would play over here and they were going back

00:05:39.080 and forth like that.

00:05:39.920 So it was really fun.

00:05:41.100 Like a couple of birds almost.

00:05:42.200 Yeah, but I never, for some reason or the other, my dad always wanted me to get into music.

00:05:47.360 Not just professional.

00:05:48.400 Did you try it at all?

00:05:49.840 Yeah, I tried it.

00:05:50.900 It just didn't work.

00:05:51.960 What instrument?

00:05:53.180 Well, he tried with trumpet, obviously.

00:05:56.080 Then he thought that he can seduce me kind of into the music because I liked Elvis.

00:06:02.740 So he said, well, why don't you learn how to play the guitar?

00:06:06.880 I don't play the guitar.

00:06:08.060 But there's a farmer that is 100 yards up the road.

00:06:12.800 He plays the guitar and he can teach.

00:06:14.640 He's also a teacher.

00:06:16.380 And so I would go to him.

00:06:17.320 But it just, you know, I just could see right away that that was not meant for me.

00:06:22.960 Was there a lot of like when you were a child in Austria, was there a lot of like individualism

00:06:26.980 or was it were things very like regimented?

00:06:29.760 Like in America, you could like you can be an individual, right?

00:06:32.880 But some countries, it's a little bit harder to kind of like, you know, be an individual

00:06:37.080 and have a voice.

00:06:37.940 I'm just wondering, what was it like there when you were young?

00:06:40.100 Did it feel like things were regimented or it was OK to be rebellious?

00:06:44.180 What was it like there?

00:06:45.680 Well, I was rebellious in a way because, I mean, think about it, soccer and track and

00:06:52.460 field, they were kind of like the in sports.

00:06:55.380 But when I was exposed to weightlifting and to powerlifting and to bodybuilding, I fell in

00:07:04.300 love with that.

00:07:05.400 And also because my heroes like Reg Park and Steve Reeves, they were doing Hercules movies

00:07:09.900 and I just started looking at those movies, right?

00:07:13.020 And so I said to myself, I want to be like that.

00:07:16.780 I don't want to be a top soccer player.

00:07:19.700 I want to be like that.

00:07:20.780 I want to have some muscles like that and I want to get into movies like that.

00:07:24.180 You know, so that all of a sudden became my dream.

00:07:26.860 So you really wanted to be like this?

00:07:28.720 Yeah.

00:07:29.480 So I was fixated.

00:07:30.740 I was kind of like concentrating that I kind of put visually my head on Reg Park's body

00:07:41.460 and I said to myself, there was a picture, a famous picture where he won the Mr. Universe

00:07:45.860 contest in London in 1951.

00:07:50.500 And when I saw that picture, it was like him holding the trophy and flexing his bicep.

00:07:56.340 Yeah.

00:07:56.640 And then I said to myself, can you imagine if this is me?

00:08:00.460 I'm going to make this me.

00:08:02.420 And so that's what I was training for.

00:08:03.940 So my parents thought that it was kind of like, what is that all about?

00:08:07.720 Where did that come from?

00:08:09.200 And the whole neighborhood was kind of like wondering, what is this guy doing training

00:08:16.320 every day, two hours, three hours a day?

00:08:18.420 I came home and instead of having lunch, I would put my sit-up board up in the kitchen table

00:08:24.240 and I would be doing sit-ups.

00:08:26.640 Yeah.

00:08:26.960 500 sit-ups during lunch.

00:08:28.480 So you were addicted to it.

00:08:29.420 You were addicted.

00:08:29.800 Totally, totally addicted.

00:08:30.840 Because I was driven by my vision.

00:08:33.340 You know, so it was always there.

00:08:34.920 Yeah.

00:08:35.160 Even when I was in school, I would sometimes just wander off when the teacher was teaching

00:08:40.080 out there, writing up something on the blackboard.

00:08:43.040 And I would be looking at that.

00:08:44.540 And then all of a sudden, he could see that I was just kind of like staring off.

00:08:50.860 Yeah.

00:08:51.180 And then all of a sudden, he threw a chalk at my head and I would bang.

00:08:57.080 And I looked back again.

00:08:58.540 He says, Arnold, I'm up here.

00:09:02.020 I mean, I know you're looking at the beautiful trees out there.

00:09:04.140 They're more beautiful maybe than me.

00:09:05.420 But you got to listen to what I'm saying here.

00:09:08.080 So I noticed I was always kind of drifting off and visualizing my dreams.

00:09:15.900 Always visualizing my dreams.

00:09:17.320 Being on that stage in a Mr. Universe contest, doing maybe Hercules movies, going to America

00:09:23.300 and all of that.

00:09:24.600 So that was not the norm.

00:09:27.980 So I did step out of the norm.

00:09:29.860 And because everyone else was talking about, oh, I'm going to go and get a job with the

00:09:33.760 government because I want to make sure that I collect my pension when I was 65.

00:09:40.000 I had no interest in any of that pension.

00:09:42.220 I mean, what are we talking about now?

00:09:43.360 The age of 18, we start talking about pensions.

00:09:45.640 I mean, it's crazy, right?

00:09:46.740 But that's the European way.

00:09:48.900 Everyone looks for stability, especially in those times where government was really

00:09:54.200 ruling, you know.

00:09:55.740 So then that's also, I think, an explanation of why when I came over here to America in

00:10:02.940 1968 and I saw Hubert Humphrey and Nixon campaigning.

00:10:08.460 Hubert Humphrey, who is Hubert Humphrey?

00:10:09.500 He was the vice president under Johnson.

00:10:11.960 Okay.

00:10:12.520 And so he was campaigning.

00:10:14.020 After Kennedy?

00:10:14.540 To become, well, Johnson was after Kennedy.

00:10:18.180 Then Hubert Humphrey was his vice president.

00:10:20.200 So he was running for president.

00:10:22.620 Oh, yeah.

00:10:23.100 And so it was Nixon.

00:10:24.200 He eats gumdrops, that guy.

00:10:25.860 And so it was really interesting when I listened to the debates, and I didn't understand maybe

00:10:31.920 three-quarter of it, but I had a friend that spoke German, and he translated it for me.

00:10:38.100 And when I heard of what Nixon said, it was so opposite of what I grew up with, which I didn't

00:10:45.820 like, where government was in kind of in charge of everything, in Austria, and since I was in Germany and

00:10:53.540 in all those countries over there in Europe, socialism was the system that I grew up in.

00:10:58.720 And so when Nixon spoke, I felt like, wow, get government off your back.

00:11:06.700 Get the government off your back.

00:11:08.080 That sounds great.

00:11:09.060 Wow.

00:11:09.280 And lowering the taxes, strong military, strong economy, let the people be free, let them shop

00:11:21.720 all around the world, and blah, blah, blah.

00:11:23.680 And I said to myself, this is like unbelievable.

00:11:26.980 And then when Humphrey spoke, it was like I was back in Austria.

00:11:32.240 You know, so then I said to myself, what are the parties here?

00:11:35.500 Because they didn't understand really the parties here.

00:11:37.420 Why?

00:11:37.700 What was it about Humphreys that made it feel like you were back in Austria?

00:11:40.180 Well, he said government is the solution.

00:11:41.880 Oh, I see.

00:11:43.340 So he was more like the cage.

00:11:44.840 We all know that the government is not the solution.

00:11:47.180 I mean, it's like the free enterprise, the economy and all this.

00:11:50.740 You got to let people be free and not be controlled by government.

00:11:54.140 Government is good, but you have to find kind of the middle ground of all this stuff.

00:11:58.320 Yeah, you can't, if you rely solely on the government for your life, then you'll just be a,

00:12:01.600 you'll be a part of the government basically.

00:12:03.540 Well, and you become a vegetable.

00:12:04.960 Yeah.

00:12:05.260 Because you create the safety net, then you don't have the will to really kind of make it on your own.

00:12:10.680 So what the big advantage of coming to America was that there was no safety net.

00:12:17.040 So I was on my own.

00:12:19.180 Yeah.

00:12:19.380 So I had to get really creative.

00:12:21.120 Okay, how can I go and go to school and educate myself?

00:12:24.320 How can I go and get more English classes?

00:12:26.940 How can I go to Santa Monica City College and at the same time work?

00:12:29.980 And at the same time, train five hours a day and do all of those kind of things.

00:12:35.960 So this is, but it was up to me now to be successful, not up to the government.

00:12:39.820 Oh, I like that.

00:12:40.360 So the government was providing the opportunities and orders, the structure.

00:12:44.560 But that is what I enjoyed.

00:12:46.500 And so this is why I became kind of like a Nixon Republican.

00:12:49.920 And people always were kind of like, you know, especially in California, which is a much more liberal state.

00:12:53.980 A cuckooly Republican.

00:12:54.420 Yeah, so I really enjoyed it.

00:12:56.840 Nixon, of course, came from California.

00:12:59.180 Question, Arnold.

00:13:00.000 Yeah.

00:13:00.380 Was it scary to tell your parents that, to leave Austria?

00:13:02.620 Did people do that at the time?

00:13:03.940 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.

00:13:08.960 Was it even a popular path for people to go?

00:13:11.280 Well, remember, I started saying this when I was 10.

00:13:14.660 Ah, I see.

00:13:15.360 So it had been, your parents knew it was in your head.

00:13:17.580 Yeah, exactly.

00:13:18.140 So I saw a documentary, a black and white documentary in a school.

00:13:21.660 They showed always those films with this eight millimeters, whatever, films on the little screen.

00:13:29.320 And like I said, television was not the common thing at that time in Austria.

00:13:33.840 So we didn't grow up with that.

00:13:35.800 And, but they showed the film and they saw a documentary about America.

00:13:41.720 Yeah.

00:13:41.940 Now I see the Empire State Building.

00:13:43.560 And I said, wait a minute, this building is like, you know, a hundred times taller than any of the buildings in Graz, where I grew up, right?

00:13:53.860 In Austria.

00:13:55.020 And then I saw the Golden Gate Bridge.

00:13:57.440 Then I saw the Pacific Coast Highway.

00:13:59.300 I saw all of this kind of, you know, great, great things.

00:14:02.600 I saw the six lane highways.

00:14:04.340 I saw the big Cadillacs, you know, with the big fins sticking out, you know.

00:14:08.000 And so I said to myself, and then we had all this little kind of cars and then Muscle Beach and all of this stuff that did Hollywood.

00:14:17.100 And so I said, I got to go to America.

00:14:18.700 I got to go to America.

00:14:19.900 This Austria is not the place.

00:14:21.420 It was almost kind of like that my gene was over here.

00:14:26.200 You know, so this is a, it kind of, I gravitated towards America.

00:14:30.120 Not that I hated Austria, but I just wanted to leave and go do something different.

00:14:34.480 So my parents always saw me as being different.

00:14:38.520 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 wanted to go into the military.

00:14:47.160 So I went into the military because after you go and serve in the military, then you can get your passport and you can travel.

00:14:52.980 So you had to, you had to go to the military to get your passport in Austria?

00:14:55.760 That's right.

00:14:56.300 Is it still that way?

00:14:57.720 No, I don't think it's different now.

00:14:59.260 Everything is different because, you know, everything has changed.

00:15:02.060 Yeah.

00:15:02.300 And you had a brother as well, right?

00:15:04.080 Did he go in the military?

00:15:05.840 He was in the military and-

00:15:07.800 Was he older or younger?

00:15:09.020 He was a year older.

00:15:09.980 Oh, cool.

00:15:10.480 What's his name?

00:15:10.880 So he was a year, Meinhardt.

00:15:12.180 Meinhardt.

00:15:12.640 Meinhardt, yeah, exactly.

00:15:13.480 So he was a year earlier, but he passed away, as you know.

00:15:16.780 I didn't know it.

00:15:17.420 At the age of 24.

00:15:20.940 Oh, I didn't know that.

00:15:21.720 He passed away, yeah.

00:15:22.660 It was like a drunk driver.

00:15:23.240 That's him right there?

00:15:24.140 Yeah.

00:15:24.780 No, this is a Franz Dischinger.

00:15:26.720 He was my training partner in Munich.

00:15:29.380 So after the army, the Austrian army, I immediately left to go to Munich because I got an offer.

00:15:38.440 Because now, at the meantime, I became the European champion in bodybuilding in the junior division.

00:15:43.800 Okay, so you go to the military.

00:15:45.360 So I became this.

00:15:46.540 While I was in the military, I won this title, Best Built Man of Europe, junior.

00:15:51.520 Oh, my God.

00:15:52.080 You know, I was 18 years old.

00:15:53.400 So now I got this offer in Munich, the biggest gym, to go and become a trainer.

00:15:59.260 So I said to myself, okay, I'm going to serve out my term here, get out of here a year later,

00:16:04.880 and then I go to Munich, and then I become a trainer there.

00:16:08.280 Now, then I can train anytime, 24 hours a day, because I actually lived in the gym.

00:16:16.320 So I could get up, literally, if I wake up at 3 in the morning, and, you know, I can, let's say, I can fall back to sleep, I go out to the gym.

00:16:23.780 How did you live in there?

00:16:24.800 Like where?

00:16:25.120 They just had a bed in the side or something?

00:16:26.600 It was a little room.

00:16:28.640 It was from here to there where you sit, and a bed, and just a little kind of a thing with cabinet with drawers.

00:16:36.600 I put my stuff in.

00:16:37.760 That was it.

00:16:39.040 That was it.

00:16:39.580 And then I walked out of it.

00:16:40.500 It used to be an office there for the gym, and I just moved in there because I had no money.

00:16:45.560 And you were like, this is what I do all the time anyway.

00:16:47.560 This is like.

00:16:48.200 Yeah, so I was in heaven.

00:16:49.900 Yeah.

00:16:50.360 Are you kidding me?

00:16:50.940 I mean, I went out there, turned on the lights, and I was posing with all the overhead lights.

00:16:55.020 I noticed I was posing in the mirror all the time.

00:16:57.440 At night, I would wake up and I would go out there posing and stuff like that.

00:17:00.140 And stuff like that.

00:17:00.160 So I was like, you know, very intense.

00:17:02.220 Yeah.

00:17:02.660 And very passionate about bodybuilding and perfecting my body and going to London to that very same contest that Reg Park won, the Mr. Universe.

00:17:13.220 And that very same year when I went out to Munich, 1966, I became now Mr. Europe literally two months later.

00:17:21.280 And then Best Buildman of Europe, and then I went to the Mr. Universe contest at the age of 19.

00:17:26.440 I was the youngest competitor, and I came second.

00:17:30.040 And where was that held at?

00:17:31.300 It was in London.

00:17:32.040 That was in London.

00:17:32.440 The same stage as Reg Park won.

00:17:33.560 So you still hadn't made it to the U.S. yet?

00:17:35.900 No, no.

00:17:36.400 Not yet.

00:17:36.840 No, no.

00:17:37.120 And was your brother also lifting weights?

00:17:38.860 Was he a weightlifter?

00:17:39.640 No.

00:17:40.520 He was not interested in that.

00:17:42.460 He was much more, I think, academic, I would say.

00:17:46.760 Because he read a lot, and he studied a lot.

00:17:49.820 He was really good in school.

00:17:51.340 I was not that good in school.

00:17:52.960 Did you guys get along pretty well?

00:17:55.120 Is that him or no?

00:17:56.060 That's him, yeah.

00:17:56.660 That's Meinhardt.

00:17:57.560 Oh, that's a cool.

00:17:58.360 And what is Meinhardt?

00:17:59.880 Yeah, Meinhardt, yeah.

00:18:00.960 I just wonder what it would be like, because I have a brother too, so I'm just thinking sometimes

00:18:04.120 like it would be, yeah, I just think about my brother a lot.

00:18:07.860 So I guess I was just curious what it was like, what your brother was like.

00:18:12.080 Well, he was different than me, but we did hang out together.

00:18:14.960 He did come to the gym every so often, and he worked out with me, but he was not into

00:18:19.380 it.

00:18:19.740 He wasn't passionate.

00:18:20.500 But he has naturally, he had a better body than I had, actually.

00:18:23.100 Oh, really?

00:18:23.740 Yeah, he had a really V-shaped body, had wide shoulders, a very, very small waist.

00:18:28.460 God, they always give it to the person that doesn't want it.

00:18:30.800 I know.

00:18:31.440 Yeah.

00:18:31.940 We had a guy like that.

00:18:32.720 But that's, I think, what is interesting about it is that you struggle much more in the

00:18:37.720 beginning and to catch up, and then all of a sudden, you know, you see your own

00:18:42.320 potential, you know, which is, you don't see it in the beginning.

00:18:45.520 But then, I mean, I think it was like going to the gym was my first time where I got compliments.

00:18:53.940 Because my parents weren't into that.

00:18:57.080 Was it popular?

00:18:57.660 It was the Austrian kind of upbringing, kind of everything, they correct everything. 1.00

00:19:01.520 The grades are no good.

00:19:03.460 And the soccer, why didn't you kick the ball?

00:19:06.680 You were like 10 yards away from the goal.

00:19:08.960 You didn't kick it in.

00:19:09.860 You tripped over the ball.

00:19:10.660 I mean, what the?

00:19:11.740 Come on, Aaron.

00:19:12.720 It was always some kind of a complaint.

00:19:13.940 Always trying to correct you.

00:19:14.900 Exactly.

00:19:15.400 That's right.

00:19:15.820 Yeah, it was always a complaint.

00:19:17.440 And then if you made a mistake, you get smacked and stuff like that.

00:19:20.700 So it was that kind of upbringing.

00:19:22.300 But it was very helpful to me because it actually gave me the motivation to leave Austria.

00:19:27.720 And it gave you control.

00:19:29.040 I mean, if you're weight, if you're bodybuilding, it's just you against you.

00:19:31.860 There's no, you don't have to depend on anybody else.

00:19:34.460 I mean, I guess you have to depend on the judges when you go to actually compete.

00:19:38.260 But day to day, it is you against your own emotions and mentality and ability.

00:19:44.800 Yes.

00:19:45.220 But also at the same time, even though it is a sport that you are on your own, but in the

00:19:50.720 end, you still rely on your training partners.

00:19:53.060 I was very fortunate always that I had the mentality of being able to attract the best

00:20:01.140 training partners.

00:20:02.180 So I had guys that were as hungry as I was because that's the important thing.

00:20:06.020 If you have someone that is not as hungry, then it doesn't really mean anything.

00:20:09.500 But if you have someone that competes with you, that counts out the reps, then he wants

00:20:13.440 to do an extra two reps more than you do.

00:20:15.480 And you get up to weight and all this stuff.

00:20:17.380 So I always had good training partners.

00:20:18.840 So I'm a big believer in that we really can't in the end do anything by ourselves.

00:20:23.460 That's why we say, don't call me a self-made man because I'm a product with a lot,

00:20:28.280 a lot of help.

00:20:29.160 If it is in bodybuilding or just, I mean, think about Joe Weider.

00:20:32.720 After winning two Mr. Universe titles in London, the amateur Mr. Universe, the following year,

00:20:39.880 1968, the professional Mr. Universe.

00:20:42.420 So I was like the youngest Mr. Universe ever.

00:20:44.780 And that was the year after you got second?

00:20:46.680 That's right.

00:20:47.240 Okay.

00:20:47.780 1966.

00:20:48.360 And you were 20 years old.

00:20:49.800 1967, I was 20 years old.

00:20:52.620 Wow.

00:20:52.940 And I wanted to become the youngest Mr. Universe.

00:20:55.480 So now I'm down that stage, exactly where Reg Park was and when the Mr. Universe.

00:21:01.600 And not only that, but the Reg Park immediately sent me a fax to London.

00:21:09.580 He said, I want to invite you to South Africa to give posing exhibitions and do Strongman Act

00:21:14.680 down there.

00:21:15.160 So I was invited by Reg Park, which eventually then, by the end of the year, I went down

00:21:20.540 to South Africa.

00:21:21.320 And you still hadn't gone to the U.S. yet?

00:21:22.880 I haven't gone to the U.S.

00:21:24.000 What brought me to the U.S. was, which was kind of my dream, someone would notice me in

00:21:29.580 bodybuilding that they would take me to because bodybuilding was an American sport.

00:21:33.780 Oh, it was?

00:21:34.220 Not a European sport.

00:21:35.360 It was an American sport, really.

00:21:37.340 And so I all of a sudden get this invitation from Joe Weider, who was the publisher of

00:21:42.960 the muscle magazines.

00:21:44.360 He published like four big muscle magazines, Flex and Strength and Health and all of these

00:21:49.820 Oh, yeah.

00:21:50.520 We used to get some of them, I think, when I was a kid.

00:21:52.860 And Muscle and Fitness.

00:21:53.580 We didn't use them.

00:21:55.000 All of this.

00:21:55.560 And he had also an equipment company, the food supplement company.

00:21:58.660 Because it's weights, right?

00:21:59.560 I've seen the weights before.

00:22:00.620 It's weights.

00:22:02.200 It's the food supplements.

00:22:03.420 And his brother was the head of the organization, the Bodybuilding Federation.

00:22:08.280 And this is when you came to the U.S.?

00:22:09.860 Yeah.

00:22:10.080 So he brought me over in 1968.

00:22:12.420 Okay.

00:22:12.640 Before we get there, Arnold, and not to interrupt you or anything, but you did a show, you went

00:22:17.360 to like one of the first interracial shows that was in South Africa?

00:22:21.760 That was later on.

00:22:22.900 Oh, that was later on.

00:22:23.500 Okay.

00:22:23.600 So that was 1975.

00:22:24.980 Got it.

00:22:25.240 Okay.

00:22:25.480 So you get to the U.S.

00:22:27.520 Very good research.

00:22:28.580 Do you remember your first, thank you.

00:22:30.620 Do you remember your first day in America?

00:22:32.380 Oh, yes.

00:22:34.420 It was in Miami.

00:22:36.620 I went to Miami and I was competing there in the competition.

00:22:41.980 And then after that, I came out to California and I was picked up in California at the airport

00:22:48.840 by a bodybuilding photographer by the name of Arizella and Dick Tyler, who wrote for the

00:22:55.440 Muscle Magazines.

00:22:56.460 They picked me up and took me to an apartment that Joe Weaver rented for me.

00:23:02.840 And it was fantastic.

00:23:04.360 I mean, from then on, I got all the help in the world now because that's when I really

00:23:09.060 realized the generosity of the American people.

00:23:13.120 Wow.

00:23:13.220 I mean, they gave me, I mean, the bodybuilders, there was Thanksgiving came up after that

00:23:17.600 because I came over here in October, November was Thanksgiving.

00:23:21.760 So there was, there was like this whole thing about, you know, giving me pillows and giving

00:23:28.200 me blankets and giving me dishes and silverware.

00:23:31.600 Where were you, homeless or something?

00:23:33.160 But say again.

00:23:33.880 Why were they giving you all that?

00:23:35.320 Oh, just to make you feel welcome.

00:23:36.420 When you move into an apartment, what do you get?

00:23:39.560 I mean, it was a furnished apartment.

00:23:41.020 And you were living in LA at that point?

00:23:42.320 Yeah, yeah.

00:23:42.540 It was in the valley, over there in the valley.

00:23:44.880 And then all those bodybuilders came to me and they brought me all this stuff.

00:23:48.720 It was like unbelievable.

00:23:49.740 So I could not even believe how generous they were.

00:23:54.620 And this was a lot of times people that didn't know me at all.

00:23:58.060 But just because bodybuilding and joining a club, you know, you become kind of part of that

00:24:04.120 family.

00:24:04.920 And so they were very, very sweet and kind.

00:24:07.960 And I would never forget that.

00:24:09.280 That's actually what made me then think about, well, when I ever make it, I will give that

00:24:14.340 back.

00:24:14.780 I will help other people myself, you know.

00:24:17.060 What's it like finding a gym that really fits you?

00:24:20.060 Like, what's that like at that level of bodybuilding?

00:24:22.480 Were there a couple of gyms you tried out and you're like, this isn't it?

00:24:25.060 Or did you already know where you wanted to be?

00:24:28.600 I came over here.

00:24:29.540 There was a gym called Vince's Gym that had all the champions training.

00:24:33.560 Where was that located?

00:24:35.680 It was over in the Valley.

00:24:36.880 Okay.

00:24:37.200 On Ventura Boulevard in North Hollywood.

00:24:40.660 And a very, very famous gym.

00:24:42.400 This is where, you know, Larry Scott, Mr. Olympia trained.

00:24:45.600 And Don Howard, who was Mr. America.

00:24:47.820 And Don Peterson.

00:24:48.580 All those guys were training there.

00:24:49.680 And then I ventured over here every so often for powerlifting.

00:24:54.820 There was a gym called Gold's Gym.

00:24:57.780 Not many bodybuilders trained there.

00:25:00.160 Some, but I mean, not many.

00:25:01.540 Most of them were like shot putters and powerlifters and weightlifters and so on.

00:25:06.840 And it was a much more rough gym.

00:25:08.900 But somehow, because of the Austrian gym where I kind of started the first three years in

00:25:13.720 this weightlifting club, it reminded me of that.

00:25:16.300 So I started getting more and more attracted to that gym.

00:25:19.040 And then I moved from the Valley over here.

00:25:21.980 To Venice.

00:25:22.520 To Venice.

00:25:23.760 And I was still part of Santa Monica, actually.

00:25:26.320 It was, you know, Ashland.

00:25:28.360 One of the streets not far away from here.

00:25:31.200 And then I went daily training there.

00:25:33.780 Then Gold's Gym.

00:25:34.620 Then other bodybuilders came from all over the country to train there, too.

00:25:38.840 Because you were there?

00:25:39.720 Because of-

00:25:39.920 Well, I was there.

00:25:40.620 And that was-

00:25:41.540 Joe Weedon now started writing in his magazines about Arnold is training in Gold's Gym.

00:25:47.740 And, you know, if you want to go and train in a great place, this is the place to go.

00:25:51.700 Was it Hartfeet or training?

00:25:52.720 I mean, were people at that point just standing around watching you train?

00:25:56.460 No, because there was a lot of, you know, I mean, this place was filled with great bodybuilding.

00:26:01.980 Oh, I see.

00:26:02.580 Yeah.

00:26:02.660 Oh, yeah.

00:26:03.020 So then others came out here from Florida and from Kentucky and from New York.

00:26:07.880 And they all started joining Gold's Gym instead of training there.

00:26:11.100 So this was kind of like the place that had the best bodybuilders in the world training in Gold's. 1.00

00:26:17.660 That's how Gold's Gym became famous.

00:26:19.420 Ah.

00:26:19.920 You know, because it was a little gym.

00:26:21.260 It was not big.

00:26:21.840 I think it was 3,000 square feet.

00:26:24.540 I think it was.

00:26:25.380 Well, I remember when I first moved to Los Angeles, we went to a firehouse.

00:26:28.520 I don't know if it's still there or not.

00:26:29.480 Yeah, yeah.

00:26:29.880 Firehouse.

00:26:30.260 Was that the place?

00:26:30.700 It was a big protein place.

00:26:31.860 It was like a-

00:26:32.580 Was that-

00:26:33.080 I think it was-

00:26:33.400 Well, firehouse now is a restaurant down there.

00:26:37.100 It used to be like a place where you could get literally like a bowl of chicken.

00:26:41.620 Yeah, yeah.

00:26:41.940 You still can get there.

00:26:43.160 You can get great scrambled eggs.

00:26:45.160 You can get like 30 eggs or whatever.

00:26:46.200 Yeah, yeah.

00:26:46.440 Exactly, yeah.

00:26:46.940 That's crazy.

00:26:47.440 It was like-

00:26:47.840 Yeah.

00:26:48.040 Yeah, I remember I ate-

00:26:49.380 I ordered like a month worth of food right there just for-

00:26:52.380 Just at lunch.

00:26:53.200 Yeah, yeah.

00:26:53.920 Yeah, it took me like five hours to get out of there just because I didn't want to like-

00:26:57.100 Yeah, I was never a big eater.

00:26:58.780 So to me, that meant nothing.

00:27:00.420 If I had a little steak and some two scrambled eggs, I was perfectly fine.

00:27:04.740 I was full.

00:27:05.360 For the day?

00:27:06.080 Not for the day, no.

00:27:07.160 But let's say in the mornings, taking eggs or scrambled eggs or something like this.

00:27:11.760 I always had to take protein drinks in between meals because I could never eat enough to get

00:27:18.260 my 250 grams of protein because I weighed 250 pounds.

00:27:22.320 And the idea then was that for every kind of pound of body weight you have, you should

00:27:26.900 have one gram of protein.

00:27:29.000 When-

00:27:29.820 Because I used to buy-

00:27:31.160 I don't know if I used to bodybuild.

00:27:32.200 I used to use steroids when I was like growing up and just lift weights a lot.

00:27:35.280 I loved it for years, you know?

00:27:36.800 And I think whenever I get like, you know, whenever I quit working as much, I'll probably

00:27:42.120 try to get back more into weightlifting.

00:27:44.780 Was steroids pretty popular then or what was it like?

00:27:47.440 Was that part of the-

00:27:48.620 Because I'm sure it was part of the culture.

00:27:50.480 Well, no, it was not yet.

00:27:52.260 But it was something that was in the beginning very experimental.

00:27:55.780 So would you hear it?

00:27:56.920 Like, would it be like on the black market or it was just like public?

00:27:59.900 It was just like people would talk about it like as a supplement.

00:28:02.460 It might be in some places.

00:28:04.260 It was in the black market.

00:28:05.280 I don't know.

00:28:06.280 But all I know is that we always went to a doctor because they want to make sure that

00:28:11.140 they measure your blood pressure and they check your health and all of that stuff because

00:28:14.860 it has side effects.

00:28:16.440 Oh, yeah.

00:28:17.040 And especially if you take it beyond of what they recommend.

00:28:20.960 So if they recommend, let's say, one shot a week and you start taking one shot a day

00:28:24.820 or something, which is, of course, the case a lot of today that people are overdosing.

00:28:30.600 And that's why you see some bodybuilders actually die because of the overdose of drugs and all

00:28:35.120 this stuff.

00:28:35.620 Did you see friends go down that road or people use other bodybuilders go down that road where

00:28:38.860 they would get addicted to it?

00:28:39.980 Not in my days.

00:28:42.400 It was so new.

00:28:43.040 But now it's, I think, really somewhat, I would say, out of control.

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00:32:04.200 Whenever you start, like you've had such an interesting life and career, you've gotten

00:32:10.500 to do so many things.

00:32:12.540 What do you think, was there a time period in your life that you wish you had maybe done

00:32:15.860 like a little bit different, you know?

00:32:17.820 No.

00:32:18.960 I don't really, there's no move that ever made career-wise.

00:32:22.880 I thought that I had a real good nose when to make my moves forward and when I should

00:32:28.760 retire from bodybuilding.

00:32:31.500 When I felt like, okay, I don't have the joy anymore.

00:32:35.480 After six, after five Mr. Universe competitions that I won, Mr. World and Mr. Olympia six times,

00:32:42.080 I retired in 1975 after that competition in South Africa that you mentioned just earlier.

00:32:49.500 So that was kind of the last competition.

00:32:51.420 I did come back in 1980 again for the Mr. Olympia, but that was really just an afterthought.

00:32:58.860 But I mean, really, I retired in 1975.

00:33:00.920 After the South African show?

00:33:03.380 After the South African show, yeah.

00:33:04.280 Can you tell me a little bit about that?

00:33:05.400 Because I bet it was really interesting.

00:33:06.780 Just South Africa is probably my favorite country.

00:33:08.540 I mean, it is beautiful.

00:33:09.880 It is a gorgeous country.

00:33:11.940 And of course, at that time, blacks and whites and everyone was separated.

00:33:18.380 I mean, by separated, meaning they had different rights.

00:33:21.360 You know, the whites were the ones that ruled the country. 1.00

00:33:24.200 The blacks were kind of kept down.

00:33:25.960 Was Desmond Tutu down there at that time?

00:33:27.520 Do you know if he was speaking?

00:33:28.300 Yes, of course he was.

00:33:29.520 But I mean, the whites really were kind of in control. 0.99

00:33:35.140 They were the kind of the leaders of it.

00:33:36.400 Exactly.

00:33:36.920 The Dutch and the British. 0.69

00:33:38.220 It was always a fight between those two in the parliament and all that.

00:33:41.860 And so then I got to meet and to know the minister of immigration.

00:33:49.060 And he was also minister of sports and minister of labor and blah, blah, blah.

00:33:53.600 So he was a very, very powerful guy in administration.

00:33:56.320 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.

00:34:09.520 To the townships?

00:34:10.660 Yeah.

00:34:11.000 Yeah.

00:34:11.300 So I said, the townships.

00:34:12.840 Like the Sowetos? 1.00

00:34:13.580 Of course, I did not know.

00:34:17.540 And so he then explained it to me.

00:34:19.060 And then he would organize with the Reg Park together for me to go in because he was not the safest place in town.

00:34:28.840 Not that they wanted to do harm to you, but I mean, for someone like me to come in there and to do a demonstration there.

00:34:37.000 Oh, they'll meet you.

00:34:37.800 I mean, everyone, everyone got lit.

00:34:40.140 I mean, they were drunk.

00:34:41.480 They were celebrating that someone would come in and give them the respect and do something special for them.

00:34:47.100 So very appreciative, right?

00:34:48.580 So I would go in there and I was in the cage.

00:34:51.640 Into the Sowetos? 0.97

00:34:52.500 Is that what it's called?

00:34:53.080 Can you bring that up for me, Nick?

00:34:53.980 Yeah, the townships.

00:34:54.760 They're all over the place.

00:34:55.960 In every town in South Africa, there's townships like that. 0.84

00:35:00.500 There's places where the blacks would live, right? 1.00

00:35:02.960 Yeah.

00:35:03.120 In a very, very kind of flow.

00:35:04.040 I think they're called the Sowetos.

00:35:05.200 Are they or not?

00:35:05.980 That's one of them.

00:35:07.100 Yeah, Sowetos. 1.00

00:35:07.940 Yeah, I think so.

00:35:09.960 So in any case, so I would go in there and do a demonstration and do my posing and lift weights and all of this kind of stuff.

00:35:16.960 In these small townships?

00:35:18.860 Yeah, there was like, you know, thousands of them surrounding and then just screaming loud and having the greatest time.

00:35:26.080 And then we would go out.

00:35:26.780 Oh, they would put you on the grill.

00:35:28.080 I bet they were so hungry.

00:35:29.620 Sometimes they would be like, look at this well-fed guy.

00:35:31.060 It was fantastic, the reception and everything.

00:35:34.500 So the reason I'm mentioning that is because it led to the conversation with, you know, that minister of sports.

00:35:45.780 And he said to me, he says, we should have an international competition here in South Africa.

00:35:56.300 He says, we should work together on that.

00:35:59.220 And I said, okay, we will.

00:36:00.320 And his name was Dr. Kornhoff.

00:36:05.040 Dr. Kornhoff.

00:36:05.900 Dr. Kornhoff.

00:36:07.380 And he was an extraordinary man.

00:36:09.280 Very, very smart.

00:36:10.680 But it just shows you that there was people like him that already wanted to do more for the blacks and to elevate them.

00:36:19.100 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.

00:36:28.760 They got together and they hit it off really well.

00:36:31.760 And so Joe Weider and Ben Weider worked with him to bring the Mr. Olympia contest to South Africa, to Pretoria, the capital of South Africa.

00:36:41.580 But the conditions were that they were able to have a mixed audience.

00:36:48.600 Okay.

00:36:49.260 So black and white audience.

00:36:50.160 Had they done that ever?

00:36:51.180 Never.

00:36:52.020 Wow.

00:36:52.500 So there was the first time there was blacks, but there was not just black and white in South Africa.

00:36:59.320 There was a group that 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.

00:37:07.900 I mean, there was like five different Asians.

00:37:10.220 So everyone was different.

00:37:12.000 A lot of variety.

00:37:13.300 It was kind of like, it was not considered we are all equal there, right?

00:37:17.300 And so what Ben negotiated was that we have a mixed audience to anyone, no matter what their nationality and what their kind of color is or religious beliefs,

00:37:27.560 anyone should be able to come to this competition.

00:37:31.080 And also not only that, but to be a judge, we will have also half black and half white judges and blah, blah, blah. 0.77

00:37:38.180 So was that scary to go before a black judge?

00:37:41.320 Did you think that they would judge you fairly? 0.70

00:37:43.020 I would be.

00:37:43.780 No, not at all.

00:37:45.360 Because they were not.

00:37:46.580 I mean, I was competing in America at that time already.

00:37:48.700 Oh, you were used to it.

00:37:49.440 And I was used to it.

00:37:50.800 We have a Leroy Colbert who was with the first guy with the 21, 22-inch arms, big, big bodybuilder from the 50s and 60s.

00:37:58.440 And he was a judge in New York several times.

00:38:01.400 And he was a totally honest judge.

00:38:04.500 There was other black judges.

00:38:05.920 So that's the great thing about bodybuilding.

00:38:09.580 Bodybuilding, there was no prejudice.

00:38:11.080 You know, there were some people in bodybuilding that were prejudiced.

00:38:15.480 But in general, like especially under the Wieders, the Wieders, I think because they were Jewish. 0.81

00:38:21.100 Bring them up, Ben Wieders?

00:38:22.480 I think it had something to do with the fact that they were that kind of open-minded about it.

00:38:28.000 Oh, yeah.

00:38:28.540 A lot of times they're the leaders.

00:38:29.940 They're the leaders.

00:38:29.960 They're the leaders in promoting diversity.

00:38:33.120 That's right.

00:38:33.900 So there was no prejudice.

00:38:34.900 Have been.

00:38:35.520 There was no prejudice there at all.

00:38:38.360 And as a matter of fact, there was a guy by the name of Bob Hoffman.

00:38:41.900 He always made sure that when they had the AAU, had the Mr. America competition,

00:38:47.600 only whites could win. 0.95

00:38:49.220 No black could win there. 1.00

00:38:50.480 Oh, really? 0.99

00:38:51.120 Yeah.

00:38:51.380 So there was really embarrassing.

00:38:53.320 So there were some barriers within the-

00:38:54.720 There was guys like Sergio Liver that would be competing in 1966 or 1965 in the Mr. America,

00:39:01.080 and he would get beaten by white guys.

00:39:03.460 And it was totally unfair.

00:39:04.860 Or Harold Poole got beaten in 1963 by Vern Weaver, which I thought was unfair.

00:39:09.940 So it was-

00:39:10.780 There was this-

00:39:11.360 So what they did then was, because there was now two federations.

00:39:14.660 There was the IFBB, there was the AAU in Napa.

00:39:17.820 AAU?

00:39:18.640 AAU, exactly.

00:39:19.340 AAU.

00:39:19.640 The American Athletic Union.

00:39:21.020 Yeah.

00:39:21.340 And so they then went from that federation over to the IFBB, and there Sergio Liver won immediately.

00:39:28.380 Got it.

00:39:28.800 He became Mr. America, he became Mr. World, then Mr. Universe, then Mr. Olympia, and he actually,

00:39:34.300 in the first Mr. Olympia competition, Sergio Liver beat me.

00:39:37.400 Wow.

00:39:38.140 1969.

00:39:39.220 Fairly.

00:39:39.580 I mean, there was no complaints there at all, because he was extraordinary, right?

00:39:43.820 And so then in 1970, I came back, and I beat him in the Mr. World competition in Columbus,

00:39:49.700 Ohio.

00:39:50.240 And then two weeks later, in the Mr. Olympia in New York.

00:39:53.660 So we were big rivals.

00:39:56.240 And I was, of course, a big admirer of his, and a big idol.

00:39:59.180 And he treated me really well.

00:40:01.120 We went to Chicago and trained together at the Duncan YMCA and all that stuff.

00:40:05.880 I wanted to learn from him.

00:40:06.920 I love the YMCA, don't you?

00:40:08.300 Oh, absolutely.

00:40:09.720 It's great.

00:40:10.340 I've always been a fan of the YMCA.

00:40:12.160 It's just kind of like, they're always a little bit, like, it's never perfect there,

00:40:16.060 but everything's kind of like a little bit old enough where I like the equipment.

00:40:19.540 You know, it's never too fancy.

00:40:21.260 Yeah, but you can get the job done.

00:40:22.740 Right.

00:40:23.080 So to me, it's not about the luxury.

00:40:26.080 It's just much more about the will to succeed.

00:40:29.540 And when I see pictures online of bodybuilders that are training in the sand in Africa right 0.61

00:40:38.960 now, blacks, that are having cement weights on a bar. 0.88

00:40:44.500 God. 0.98

00:40:44.960 And a cheap bench.

00:40:46.460 And when they do their bench press.

00:40:49.580 Yeah.

00:40:49.820 And the other day, I saw one of those kind of videos, and they get up from the bench.

00:40:56.840 I'm looking at this guy could win Mr. America.

00:40:59.180 Wow.

00:40:59.480 Or win Mr. California or something like that.

00:41:01.220 He looks extraordinary.

00:41:02.600 So it's really not the technology so much.

00:41:07.600 It helps you, but I mean, and it is really what you have to work on.

00:41:11.360 It's the will.

00:41:12.080 Oh, the will was the best.

00:41:13.520 There's nothing better than just having like a little weight bench outside in your backyard

00:41:17.040 or something, and you go out there, or in your garage, and it's just your-

00:41:19.820 I did my deadlifts right in front of the house in Graz, in Tahr, which now is a museum,

00:41:25.920 and the house where I grew up in.

00:41:27.060 Your home is a museum where you grew up?

00:41:28.560 The home, exactly, yeah.

00:41:29.800 Yeah, I'm going to go over there in two weeks.

00:41:31.920 So we have a- our pump club is meeting there with the European bodybuilders members from

00:41:37.320 the pump club, and then there's some Americans that are also coming over there.

00:41:41.980 That audience in South Africa, what was- did it have the feeling during the show of like,

00:41:48.480 this is like a novel thing?

00:41:49.940 This is like a- like, was there that energy in the- in the event?

00:41:54.640 There was so much energy in that auditorium, and it was not a big auditorium.

00:41:59.800 It maybe held, I would say, 1,500 people, I would guess.

00:42:07.600 And it was- the energy was fantastic.

00:42:10.680 The joy of being together was fantastic.

00:42:14.000 And I really think that had a tremendous impact also on the future of South Africa.

00:42:17.660 And it was just wonderful that there were leaders there that believed in that and wanted to organize.

00:42:24.560 And everyone, the police, and everyone was really cooperative.

00:42:27.600 Everyone worked together.

00:42:28.580 So it was a fantastic show, a fantastic competition.

00:42:31.240 And of course, I won.

00:42:32.380 So it was always a fantastic competition.

00:42:34.480 You know, when he went, Mr. Olympia.

00:42:36.420 But I- what was interesting about it was, I got $1,000 cash price.

00:42:43.780 And I was really upset about that.

00:42:47.860 Because I felt like, wait a minute.

00:42:50.580 In 1965, 10 years ago, Larry Scott, when he won, Mr. Olympia got $1,000.

00:42:57.740 And now, 10 years later, we still get $1,000.

00:43:01.720 So that's what made me actually motivated to go then in front of the IFBB, the International Party Billing Congress,

00:43:09.500 and to ask them for permission to organize the next year's Mr. Olympia in Columbus, Ohio.

00:43:16.220 And that's exactly what we did.

00:43:17.820 And I got the permission, and then we upped the cash price to $5,000, then to $10,000, to $20,000, we doubled it every year.

00:43:25.920 And now we're giving over a million dollars away for cash prices for the Arnold Classic.

00:43:31.540 What's like one of the things right before you go on?

00:43:33.880 Because I'm guessing you're backstage, right?

00:43:35.900 You wait to go on, and they call your name out, and then you go out and do your poses.

00:43:39.320 Is that how it goes?

00:43:40.460 Well, in those days, the way it worked was the whole lineup of all the competitors.

00:43:47.520 Now, you have to understand, Mr. Olympia means that you have to have won a world championship title before.

00:43:55.020 So Mr. World, Mr. International, or Mr. Universe.

00:43:59.040 So those guys are the top guys.

00:44:00.880 So you have like six or seven guys that are on the stage.

00:44:04.700 And so the judges, they ask you to order to come out.

00:44:08.640 You have a certain time at 1 o'clock, be ready for pre-judging.

00:44:12.060 And then you come out, and then you stand there.

00:44:14.840 And then the judges will shuffle you around, and they say,

00:44:17.240 okay, can number seven go over where number one is, and number one goes over where number seven was.

00:44:23.120 You know, they just see them next to each other, different people next to each other.

00:44:27.060 Then they say, turn around.

00:44:28.540 Turn sideways.

00:44:30.740 What's the scariest way to be turned?

00:44:32.440 Like, was there ever a part where you're like, this is, I got to kind of cheat this angle a little bit?

00:44:36.720 No, I mean, for me, it was basically always a tremendous joy to be up on stage.

00:44:43.920 Because it's one of those things where you feel like when you're really ready.

00:44:48.100 I always felt kind of like, in most cases, that I was so ready.

00:44:53.240 That no matter what angle it was, I was ready to go.

00:44:56.240 And I had always a smile on my face.

00:44:57.820 And I flexed everything.

00:44:59.600 And, you know, the key thing is that you have practiced your posing enough that you can stand there in a flexed position.

00:45:07.760 It looks relaxed.

00:45:09.360 You stand there like this, but you still flex.

00:45:11.620 Right.

00:45:11.920 You keep the stomach in, and you keep the abs flexed, and the calves flexed, and the biceps and the tricep flexed.

00:45:17.200 So that was the idea, and I was always having great joy with that.

00:45:20.600 So it's a lot of acting, too.

00:45:21.880 It's kind of some acting up there.

00:45:23.020 It is one of the great forms of acting.

00:45:26.040 Why?

00:45:26.620 Because you cannot go and say to the judge, look at me.

00:45:31.360 I'm the most perfect up here.

00:45:33.640 Look at my abs.

00:45:35.000 No, you have to do all that without talking.

00:45:37.280 You have to communicate with them, and also with the audience.

00:45:40.280 Because remember that the sound of the audience is very important,

00:45:44.380 because you want to get big applause, so the judges say, oh, this guy got the most applause.

00:45:48.200 I mean, he definitely, you know, has the best body.

00:45:51.220 So, but then you wait for the individual posing.

00:45:55.380 So then you come at one after the next.

00:45:57.560 You do a three-minute posing routine.

00:45:59.920 And what's the tricks there?

00:46:00.900 Is there any trick of the trade, a last-minute thing you used? 0.99

00:46:03.880 You would, like, pinch your tits or just rub some just, like, molasses into your lint? 0.99

00:46:09.520 Like, what was, like, a last-minute thing people would do? 1.00

00:46:12.280 Put ice under your arms or something?

00:46:13.960 No, I think the key thing is just that when you go there, that you're so ready that you don't shake.

00:46:23.020 You get how many bodybuilders?

00:46:24.480 I'm sure you've seen it.

00:46:26.000 They hit a shot, and then after a few seconds, they start shaking.

00:46:30.520 Oh, so that's bad.

00:46:31.900 For that level.

00:46:33.220 I mean, it's natural when you have a Mr. Venice Beach competition, Mr. Muscle Beach.

00:46:37.060 Mr. Montgomery, Alabama, yeah.

00:46:38.860 You know, beginners, of course, they make mistakes, and they're not as well-trained.

00:46:42.400 But when you get to the Mr. Olympia level, it's unacceptable.

00:46:46.240 Ah, so you want to make it look so that you want to control the shake.

00:46:49.600 You hit the shot.

00:46:50.300 Yeah.

00:46:50.740 And you smile.

00:46:52.320 You look at the judges.

00:46:54.280 And you smile.

00:46:56.580 And then you smoothly move into the next shot.

00:47:00.120 Puff.

00:47:00.620 Bang! 1.00

00:47:01.040 You know, and then the hands, and just the movement.

00:47:04.120 It has to be all very gracefully and no shaking.

00:47:07.580 So that, again, that you say to the judges, look, I am so ready for this, unlike maybe

00:47:14.280 the others.

00:47:15.080 So that's what it is.

00:47:17.040 So it's all about the seven Ps.

00:47:21.420 You know, the seven Ps.

00:47:23.040 Proper prior planning prevents pissed poor performance.

00:47:28.340 Right?

00:47:28.940 And the Marines, they have that.

00:47:31.080 Proper prior planning prevents pissed poor performance.

00:47:33.980 Exactly.

00:47:34.120 So that's what it's about.

00:47:35.920 It's the same there.

00:47:37.220 You come prepared.

00:47:39.140 You make sure that you work.

00:47:40.560 Everyone has weak points.

00:47:42.360 So you have to make sure that you work as much on your weak points so that the judges

00:47:47.020 see that you're not blind.

00:47:49.500 That you notice that last year you maybe had not so defined legs.

00:47:54.920 Yes, maybe you won, but the legs were so-so.

00:48:00.440 And then the next year when you come back, you have to have ripped legs.

00:48:03.620 Right?

00:48:03.900 So then the judge said, that guy got the message.

00:48:06.400 So this is what it's all about.

00:48:07.340 You did it.

00:48:07.460 Because in the end, you really are an artist.

00:48:13.720 You're a sculptor.

00:48:14.720 You're not just the athlete that's competing, but you're the sculptor.

00:48:17.760 But you're your clay too.

00:48:18.780 You're putting on your own body instead of a chisel and a hammer that you kind of sculpt

00:48:24.480 a physique.

00:48:27.300 You do it now with machines and with the reps and the different exercises where you say,

00:48:31.860 I need a little bit more of the rear deltoids.

00:48:33.960 I need a little bit more separation in the front between the deltoid and the pectoral muscle.

00:48:39.100 I need a little bit more cut on the lower abs.

00:48:41.780 I need the calves have to be balanced.

00:48:44.260 They're not big enough for the arms because it should be the same size as your arms are.

00:48:48.200 And all of those kind of things.

00:48:49.560 So you become kind of like an artist in your own body.

00:48:52.580 That's what the idea is.

00:48:53.940 Did you ever have to work out the top of your feet or your hand?

00:48:58.000 Were there things you could do for your face even and stuff like that?

00:49:00.540 No, no.

00:49:02.120 I mean, there are people that pay attention to that.

00:49:05.260 I didn't.

00:49:05.960 Right.

00:49:06.340 To me, it's always about the bottom line.

00:49:09.540 Yeah.

00:49:09.700 So, but what is it that we're doing here?

00:49:12.300 What we're doing here is we're showing the most perfect physique and who is the best in actually displaying that physique.

00:49:20.480 Because it's all about, you know, presentation, presentation, presentation.

00:49:25.600 It's like a piece of art.

00:49:27.060 You know, you can have a painting that is maybe amongst many other paintings and you wouldn't even notice there's a Picasso.

00:49:32.840 But then when you put it up there on a white wall and with a beautiful gold frame with a special lighting and then you have someone talk about it, now you can auction something off for a lot of money.

00:49:45.620 Right.

00:49:45.720 So it's all about presentation.

00:49:46.940 And so this is why I think the same is also in bodybuilding, the way you present your body and the way you present your muscles.

00:49:54.360 And did 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.

00:50:01.220 Right. I can almost see where your direction comes to even end up in politics.

00:50:04.700 Right. You can start to see it like, well, this should be more this.

00:50:07.820 There should be some adjustments.

00:50:09.040 You weren't just like a competitor.

00:50:10.220 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 Wider and stuff like that.

00:50:17.960 And probably inspired by those guys to probably get this larger vision of things that were going on.

00:50:24.340 Did you when you got into film?

00:50:26.700 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.

00:50:33.460 So that kind of just leans leads kind of perfectly into acting.

00:50:38.780 Yeah. But remember that what is key and all of the stuff is also personality.

00:50:43.920 And I don't know if you can train a personality or not.

00:50:48.020 I mean, I don't know what you think about that.

00:50:49.600 But I mean, I think some people just don't have the greatest personality.

00:50:53.840 Oh, yeah. Some people are boring.

00:50:55.200 And then some people have a great personality.

00:50:57.480 Yeah.

00:50:58.020 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.

00:51:08.580 So when people talked to me about bodybuilding in those days, I was not shy of the press.

00:51:13.940 Other bodybuilders for decades didn't talk to the press.

00:51:18.300 So when I came over here, people thought that when they saw my body, they thought it was a football player or was a wrestler or something like that.

00:51:24.740 But the last thing they guessed was a bodybuilder.

00:51:26.880 So they didn't know about bodybuilding.

00:51:28.780 So I, in 1974, I hired, I was the first bodybuilder to hire a publicist.

00:51:35.880 And so we went and did talk shows, the Johnny Carson show, Murph Griffin show, Mike Douglas show, and all of those shows.

00:51:43.160 And were there football teams that tried to get you to come and play for them?

00:51:45.720 Did you ever get an offer?

00:51:46.720 No, because, I mean, I think I made it very clear in my interviews that my vision is to be the greatest bodybuilder of all times and to go then into acting.

00:51:56.020 So even when people came to me, because I was always very good in business, I studied business, I got my degree in business while I was over here and doing the training for bodybuilding.

00:52:05.360 At SMC?

00:52:06.360 Say again?

00:52:06.840 Did you go to SMC?

00:52:07.540 I went to Santa Monica City College, to UCLA, and got my degree in business, and it was like business administration.

00:52:18.980 And I was just naturally always gifted for making deals and being creative.

00:52:25.180 Got it.

00:52:25.660 And I always understood how it works.

00:52:28.800 Right.

00:52:29.140 And so in bodybuilding, for instance, it's one thing to say, okay, I'm going to up the cash price to $20,000, let's say, from, like, within a three-year period, we gave away $20,000 in the beginning.

00:52:44.280 But then you have to say, okay, where do we get this money from?

00:52:47.800 Ah, sponsors.

00:52:49.220 Right.

00:52:49.460 So now I have to go out and hustle the sponsors.

00:52:51.000 And so now, of course, we have the biggest bodybuilding and fitness convention in Columbus, Ohio, in the world.

00:52:57.900 We have 200,000 people coming through there in three days.

00:53:01.720 We have every company displaying their products there, their machines, their food supplements, clothing.

00:53:06.500 At the Arnold, it's called?

00:53:07.120 The Arnold Classic.

00:53:08.260 Arnold Classic.

00:53:08.680 Yeah, it's always the first week in March.

00:53:11.580 And it's three days, the whole thing.

00:53:13.260 So now, like I said, now we're raising enough money where we can give away over a million dollars.

00:53:17.820 As a matter of fact, this coming year, you're going to go and up to a million and a half dollars.

00:53:21.260 Let's go.

00:53:21.820 So it's like, so it's all kinds of great things happening.

00:53:23.840 But I was able to build it to that because I have a business mind.

00:53:28.120 Right.

00:53:28.440 And I know exactly how that works and how do we attract everyone and bring everyone together.

00:53:33.860 Were there women all weightlifting at that time or no? 0.99

00:53:36.660 The first Miss Olympia competition was a guy by the name of Schneider.

00:53:43.980 He was back east from the Philadelphia area.

00:53:49.380 And we did that together.

00:53:50.900 Oh, you guys started it?

00:53:51.820 Yeah, well, yes, because the women were all kind of complaining, why can't we compete? 1.00

00:53:56.720 So we did a little, we call it Miss Olympia.

00:54:00.520 And because the International Federation of Bodybuilding at that point had no interest in women bodybuilding. 0.96

00:54:07.100 Why was that, do you think?

00:54:08.460 Was it just their view of women at the time?

00:54:10.400 No, at the time, it was stuck and we created this federation for the guys.

00:54:16.160 Oh, yeah, it's a boys club.

00:54:17.200 Why are we getting, it's like Jim, it's like Joe Gord, he would not let women train. 1.00

00:54:23.280 Why?

00:54:23.960 Not because it was against women.

00:54:25.460 No, we love women coming in there. 1.00

00:54:26.980 But he figured, I don't have the room for another bathroom here.

00:54:30.840 I have 3,000 square feet.

00:54:32.760 I have only for the man to shower in the bathroom.

00:54:35.000 Some of those girls are pissed standing up. 1.00

00:54:36.760 I'll tell you that.

00:54:37.420 Yeah, but I mean, we had women coming in and their 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. 1.00

00:54:47.100 And so the federation was a little bit reluctant to do that.

00:54:50.160 But when we did the Miss Olympia and all of the girls really enjoyed that, that they were able to go on stage and to also compete with the muscles and all that stuff, the federation then woke up and they said, okay, we're going to get involved in that and we're going to go again.

00:55:06.980 And since then it has been booming and they have been doing not only bodybuilding competitions, but, you know, fitness competitions and beauty competitions.

00:55:15.680 Does Arnold Classic have a women's division? 0.65

00:55:17.740 Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:55:18.520 Oh, that's great.

00:55:19.040 I didn't know that.

00:55:19.640 Oh, wow.

00:55:20.680 Look at these chocolate babies right here. 0.69

00:55:22.680 Huh?

00:55:24.180 Yeah.

00:55:24.700 Everybody kind of gets chocolatier.

00:55:26.760 Huh?

00:55:27.560 They're tanned.

00:55:29.240 Now you have this tanning stuff.

00:55:31.040 Was it real tanning back then?

00:55:32.520 Or was it?

00:55:32.980 No.

00:55:34.760 What was the key to the best tan?

00:55:36.420 The best tan?

00:55:37.160 We got the best tan that we could get.

00:55:40.520 So I would work out a lot of times outside in the weightlifting platform in Venice.

00:55:45.320 Oh, yeah.

00:55:45.680 I love that.

00:55:45.980 So you get kind of tanned all over the place.

00:55:48.480 We're doing chin-ups and doing bench presses and incline and dips and all this stuff.

00:55:52.920 Then we would jump in the ocean again, come back and work out some more and all this.

00:55:56.160 But on the end, we then added to that tan, tan in a minute by Helena Rubenstein.

00:56:07.200 Ooh.

00:56:07.600 So I don't even know if this exists anymore that they're not.

00:56:10.620 Bring it up tan in a minute, huh?

00:56:12.400 But.

00:56:12.760 That 60-second sous-vay, they call it.

00:56:16.560 That was, in those days, it was the big trick.

00:56:19.600 So you put it on with a sponge.

00:56:21.700 You know, you just poured it out on a little plate.

00:56:23.900 You put it on with a sponge and you had a buddy of yours that did your back and stuff again.

00:56:27.980 Oh, yeah.

00:56:28.040 The back of the thighs and all of that stuff.

00:56:30.220 So this is what they did.

00:56:31.700 That's why a lot of guys, the day they spray it on.

00:56:35.020 Right.

00:56:35.200 They have actual experts come to the bodybuilding show.

00:56:38.680 And backstage, there's people that manufacture this tanning stuff.

00:56:42.100 And they would then help bodybuilders and spray it on and all of that.

00:56:45.720 So it's much more professional today.

00:56:47.560 But at the time, so you would, they would put that tan in a can, basically?

00:56:51.520 Yeah, they would put it in a bottle.

00:56:53.040 It was in a bottle.

00:56:53.700 And when you'd have a friend do your back, would anybody ever sabotage somebody and not

00:56:57.280 do their back really good?

00:56:58.640 No. 1.00

00:56:59.080 But I mean, there were some people that were really stupid and then did not know how to 1.00

00:57:03.180 put it on. 1.00

00:57:04.080 It would show kind of like streaks of the, because they didn't have the right sponge.

00:57:08.600 Yeah, a little mulatto around the wrist, huh? 1.00

00:57:10.460 So we put on just a light kind of layer.

00:57:13.240 It was all about just a little subtle thing because it's not going to make you win.

00:57:18.140 No.

00:57:18.300 It just makes you, the photos look a little bit better and you have a little bit of color.

00:57:21.400 And what was it called if somebody went too dark?

00:57:23.560 Would you just call him a little chocolate bunny or something?

00:57:25.640 No, it was up to the individual.

00:57:28.400 As a matter of fact, they tell you that you can see in our Arnold Classic, a lot of times

00:57:34.520 when the guys turn around, you sometimes don't even know who is black and who is not.

00:57:40.200 Oh, yeah.

00:57:40.820 I know.

00:57:41.040 Because they're so dark now, the tanning has gone so sophisticated and so brown. 0.99

00:57:46.520 Look at this guy.

00:57:47.120 Yeah, so he's a perfect, when he turns around, you would think it's a black guy standing 1.00

00:57:51.140 for sure. 0.94

00:57:52.160 And a nutmeg fella, yeah.

00:57:54.580 That is just a little molasses, baby. 0.84

00:57:58.500 That's so remarkable.

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00:59:11.360 That's oracle.com slash Theo.

00:59:15.100 Okay, Dad.

00:59:16.360 Showtime.

00:59:17.240 Now!

00:59:22.200 I'm very protective of my team.

00:59:25.940 Witness protection was our only choice.

00:59:28.080 But all of us living under one roof can get awkward.

00:59:35.820 Nope.

00:59:36.640 Oh, no!

00:59:37.520 Oh, my God!

00:59:38.340 Bad Donnie!

00:59:39.200 Bad Donnie!

00:59:41.660 Hello, Luke.

00:59:43.900 Greta.

00:59:49.960 Greta Nelson, each German spy, disappeared in 1989.

00:59:58.080 Cool, Dad.

01:00:01.760 Your terrorist friend is amazing. 0.99

01:00:04.080 Oh! 0.60

01:00:04.620 Oh! 0.60

01:00:05.260 Eh! 0.84

01:00:07.500 What the hell is that?

01:00:09.420 Theodore Chips, former MA-6 agent.

01:00:12.480 He works for me.

01:00:13.860 Together, we'll destroy the world.

01:00:19.060 You're gorgeous.

01:00:20.040 Are you serious?

01:00:28.320 You spying on us.

01:00:31.360 Us spying on you.

01:00:36.740 Well, Emma's pregnant. 0.99

01:00:40.480 That got your tongue? 0.79

01:00:41.420 I hope not.

01:00:46.160 I may need it in the future. 0.99

01:00:48.600 Sex. 1.00

01:00:49.220 She means sex. 0.99

01:00:50.540 Bye. 0.91

01:00:53.220 World War III is about to jump off.

01:00:59.740 Get out of there! 0.65

01:01:01.060 Ready?

01:01:01.580 No!

01:01:02.080 No!

01:01:02.260 No!

01:01:02.320 Stop! 1.00

01:01:02.740 Oh! 0.60

01:01:02.760 Hold on, old man! 1.00

01:01:09.360 No!

01:01:11.600 Boom! 0.99

01:01:18.160 I told you.

01:01:20.060 I'm back.

01:01:28.940 I want to talk about your new show.

01:01:30.300 You do have some stuff, just so we make sure we talk about it, man.

01:01:33.040 FUBAR.

01:01:33.540 I watched your first episode.

01:01:35.620 So, I guess it's not out yet, right?

01:01:37.660 No.

01:01:38.940 And it's season two.

01:01:40.160 It's kind of great, because it brings me through all this, like, nostalgia of watching you over

01:01:43.740 the years, right?

01:01:44.640 Like, I feel like it's a little bit of all the, like, to me, this is perception, and it

01:01:49.160 could be judgment, but a little bit of, like, all your roles into one.

01:01:52.020 Did it feel like that a little bit when you're shooting it, or?

01:01:54.440 Well, the idea of the show is, of course, when you act out, then you find those moments

01:01:59.700 where you can play all of the different roles.

01:02:01.580 But the idea of the show is just to do, like, what we did with True Lies, what Jim Cameron

01:02:07.760 did with True Lies, right?

01:02:09.280 So, it was like, how do we go and do a show where you pack it with action, and also with

01:02:15.080 comedy, with humor, and also with kind of soap opera, where there's relationships, interesting

01:02:21.340 relationships, and so on.

01:02:22.960 And so, I think that the writers did a really good job, because just like in True Lies, I'm

01:02:27.960 the number one spy in this show. 0.90

01:02:31.240 But when I come home, so I kick ass out there, I take care of the job all the time, wipe out 0.98

01:02:36.960 the enemy, all the terrorists, all this stuff. 0.99

01:02:39.460 But when I come home, I have to deal with the everyday crap, right? 0.98

01:02:43.660 Like we all do, right? 0.97

01:02:45.300 You have to worry about the kids.

01:02:46.780 The wife is mad at you, because you were gone for a week again, and you couldn't really

01:02:52.920 explain.

01:02:53.900 You always, I always, because my wife does not know that I'm a spy, so I always had

01:02:59.000 to lie, and I have to have this equipment company, and there's a health convention there.

01:03:03.500 They have to go to this convention.

01:03:05.200 I have to, then I come home, and I have to make up stories.

01:03:07.400 I say, the sales guys are really interesting.

01:03:09.300 I say, I tried to sell my equipment there, and over there talked about his life cycles.

01:03:12.980 All of a sudden, I say, I was so upset about this whole, and so, you know, you just

01:03:16.600 make up all these stories, which they say, but I'm getting, you know, there's a divorce

01:03:22.480 there, then, you know, then my daughter, all of a sudden, is in the CIA, and then she's

01:03:27.700 also a spy, and all of this stuff.

01:03:29.680 So there's all these conflicts that are going on, and it makes it a really interesting show

01:03:33.940 then to watch, because it's relationships, it's action, it's funny, and all that.

01:03:38.160 And so, last show did very well, the last series, the second season, and so now we see

01:03:44.400 how that is doing.

01:03:45.120 Yeah, I think there's, like, a level of, also, nostalgia, just getting to see you still

01:03:49.500 operate in these roles, you know?

01:03:50.840 Like, you've just, you've continued to keep your, I mean, you're, you know, you've just

01:03:55.800 continued to want to work, because you don't have to work anymore.

01:03:59.760 Well, let me tell you something.

01:04:02.500 I love to work.

01:04:05.620 Why?

01:04:07.340 Because it makes you active.

01:04:09.500 And I just think the most important thing is, as we get older, you don't have to worry

01:04:14.420 about any of that right now.

01:04:16.220 But, I mean, eventually you will.

01:04:18.180 When you get older, you just, you have a tendency of sitting around.

01:04:22.700 You have a tendency of not moving as much.

01:04:25.560 And so, it forces you.

01:04:28.120 So, when you do a movie, you have to get up at six in the morning.

01:04:31.680 You have to get to the set.

01:04:33.300 You have to go and prep.

01:04:34.680 You have to go and practice the action and all that stuff, and the fight scenes.

01:04:38.440 You have to do the rehearsals of the scenes.

01:04:40.780 And you work until night.

01:04:42.140 Right.

01:04:42.460 Then you go home, and you fall better tired.

01:04:44.480 And then you get up again in the morning.

01:04:45.900 So, and, remember, the most important thing for your brain is to go and practice and to

01:04:53.260 kind of do challenging things with your brain so you don't get Alzheimer's and other kind

01:04:57.800 of diseases like that.

01:04:59.100 So, it makes you memorize lines, long scenes, and especially on TV, you do like six to eight

01:05:06.140 or ten pages a day.

01:05:07.580 Oh, just keeping your brain active.

01:05:08.720 Just bringing it around.

01:05:09.800 And then I play chess on the side while I'm waiting for the scenes and all this.

01:05:13.640 Just keep always going.

01:05:14.800 So, to me, the important thing is because I feel like if you rest, you rust.

01:05:20.280 And so, it's all about movement.

01:05:22.320 It's all about keep moving and keep moving and keep challenging yourself.

01:05:26.180 Because as soon as we retire, you know, things go south.

01:05:29.920 Yeah.

01:05:30.140 I mean, there's just something that happens to the brain and to the body.

01:05:32.280 Well, especially Alzheimer's.

01:05:32.840 I mean, especially it's Alzheimer's.

01:05:35.880 Schwarzenegger, Alzheimer's, they almost seem like they would be neighbors.

01:05:38.660 You know what I'm saying?

01:05:39.220 Like, no judgment or anything, but it almost seems like that would be the one to look for

01:05:42.500 you because it's just your same letters, some of the same letters even.

01:05:47.080 I have enough with my heart problems.

01:05:48.720 So, I mean, I don't have to worry about another problem.

01:05:51.160 Oh, all you've had is heart problems.

01:05:51.720 No, no, forever.

01:05:52.960 Oh.

01:05:53.160 You know, for the last 25 years, I had heart, open-heart surgery, you know, three times

01:05:57.760 and all that kind of stuff and valve replacements and all that stuff.

01:06:01.900 It's a congenital thing from my mother.

01:06:04.360 She had it from her mother and all that stuff.

01:06:06.760 And so, I have to deal with that all the time.

01:06:09.240 But everything is good because I train every day and I exercise and I watch what I eat,

01:06:14.200 which is I watch the food and then I eat it.

01:06:15.860 Did you ever have a stroke and you just kind of, you're like, I've kind of had that before.

01:06:18.900 I can get through the rest of the day.

01:06:20.260 No, no.

01:06:21.380 None of that.

01:06:22.700 You know what I'm talking about though?

01:06:23.760 Yeah.

01:06:23.920 Like, did you ever have like, because sometimes you'll get a pain or something and you're like,

01:06:27.120 I think I'm okay.

01:06:28.580 Did you ever have like, I'm assuming if you had a lifetime of like having heart issues

01:06:32.940 that you would start to be like, ah, that's going to be okay.

01:06:35.060 No, it was never, it was, I always was kind of in front of the situation.

01:06:38.560 So, that means that I remember when I took my mother to the hospital here when she was

01:06:43.120 here visiting, she always had an episode and I took her to UCLA.

01:06:48.300 That's when we found out that she had a valve problem. 1.00

01:06:50.380 And, uh, the doctor then said to me, he says, make sure that you also check yourself.

01:06:55.940 He says, because this is something, there's a genetic thing.

01:06:59.240 So it was almost like a gift that she got to be here and you got to go through that with

01:07:01.860 her.

01:07:02.080 Yeah, exactly.

01:07:02.560 So, so I, from that point on always went with the doctor and the doctor said to me,

01:07:06.780 he says, well, you have, you know, at one point he said, you have a problem with your

01:07:11.580 valve, with your aortic valve.

01:07:12.840 And, uh, you don't have to do anything now is his, but as soon as we see it going down,

01:07:19.260 we want to catch it before it goes down because otherwise it affects the order itself and blah,

01:07:23.780 blah, blah.

01:07:24.140 And all of that.

01:07:24.820 So the bottom line is I stayed on top of it and always, so when I got my surgery, open

01:07:29.740 heart surgery, I went in there because I made an appointment.

01:07:32.680 So there was no episode.

01:07:33.660 There was no stroke.

01:07:34.480 There was no heart attack or anything.

01:07:36.060 Never had any of those kinds of things.

01:07:37.820 So I always was ahead of the game.

01:07:39.040 Was it scary when they put you under, like, were you kind of scared?

01:07:42.220 Did you make sure it was the best guy doing it, Arnold?

01:07:44.280 Because you got to have the best guy.

01:07:45.680 Of course, it's important.

01:07:47.240 Did you look him in the eyes and take him off the side and say, hey, let's make sure

01:07:49.860 we do it good?

01:07:50.560 No, I didn't have to do that now.

01:07:52.320 I think I would do that for sure.

01:07:54.460 I knew this guy's history.

01:07:56.260 Dr. Stanz was his name.

01:07:58.320 They did the first surgery, first two surgeries.

01:08:00.660 And, uh, he was like the top of the top, you know?

01:08:04.260 So there was no doers about it.

01:08:05.900 When you, you've, you've had such a, like, you've had a very blessed,

01:08:09.040 an interesting life, right?

01:08:11.220 It's been, you know, and you've had it, so you know, um, at what point you're

01:08:16.380 probably, I would say it's, I think it's fair to say you're probably in the

01:08:18.260 second half of your life.

01:08:19.820 At what point do you like, do kind of like goal, like goals turn into like

01:08:25.400 legacy if, if in your mind at all, if it does.

01:08:28.640 And I don't mean that to be a uncomfortable question.

01:08:31.140 I'm just like, does your brain start to adjust where like, these are my goals.

01:08:34.280 And then like, okay, this is a legacy that I want to leave.

01:08:37.060 Does that make any sense or no?

01:08:39.040 Well, I think it is always important to think about, you know, the idea of that we should

01:08:47.700 leave the world a better place than we inherited it.

01:08:52.220 And so I, my whole life was always about, okay, how can I make this a better world of the

01:08:58.460 knowledge that I have?

01:08:59.640 So for instance, in fitness, in bodybuilding, I went around the world to promote the idea

01:09:05.080 of weightlifting and weight training and resistance training and made it then popular, right?

01:09:09.940 Because we had to figure out a way of penetrating through the general public that thought that

01:09:15.380 bodybuilding is just, you know, flexing your, your, your muscles on stage.

01:09:19.100 But they didn't realize that bodybuilding is something that you just get a healthy and

01:09:23.860 stronger body for whatever you do.

01:09:25.820 You maybe need it for tennis.

01:09:27.320 You maybe need it for your bicycling.

01:09:29.180 You maybe need it for your, uh, whatever sport, you know, like UFC fighters are working

01:09:34.140 out.

01:09:34.320 Oh, the first time I heard of fitness was through you.

01:09:36.160 Yeah.

01:09:36.300 It was through you.

01:09:36.880 But I mean, that was the idea is I wanted to not just lift myself up, but I wanted to lift

01:09:41.520 the rest of the bodybuilding movement up.

01:09:44.640 And so it was always something.

01:09:45.980 So now, of course, 50 years later, there's a gymnasium in every hotel in the world.

01:09:51.720 There is a gymnasium or weight room in every kind of a military installation of base.

01:09:57.820 There's those guys we saw there doing those curls with the cement.

01:10:00.520 There's everything.

01:10:01.020 Exactly.

01:10:01.320 So people are lifting weights everywhere.

01:10:03.480 Every high school, every college, every sports team, everyone has weight rooms.

01:10:09.680 Yeah.

01:10:09.820 So this is where we are now.

01:10:10.920 And so this is why I felt really proud of that, that we were able, with the help of

01:10:15.700 Jane Fonda and other kind of characters that were, you know, helping women with the fitness 0.87

01:10:20.740 movement.

01:10:21.720 And so we really elevated the fitness sport to something really, also a huge economic,

01:10:27.740 uh, you know, contribution that it made.

01:10:30.720 So to me, that's important.

01:10:31.840 When I became governor, I wanted to make sure that we have healthcare for everybody.

01:10:35.800 I want to make sure that we have a clean environment and that we fight pollution, uh, and to

01:10:40.680 pass laws to reduce the pollution in California by 25% and all that.

01:10:45.460 So I continued on creating an environmental organization and to have our world summit in, uh, Vienna

01:10:52.280 every year where all the environmentalists come together and talk about how do we go and

01:10:57.180 fight pollution and all that stuff.

01:10:58.460 So that we have one coming up in 14 days now again.

01:11:01.560 And so it's, it's, it's always after school programs, for instance, when I realized that

01:11:06.100 our kids, uh, that, that, you know, 70% of the kids, uh, come from a home where both of

01:11:12.980 the parents are working.

01:11:13.900 So there's no one, they're picking them up after three o'clock from the school.

01:11:17.540 So there's kids standing around after school and not doing anything.

01:11:21.100 So then I found out where this is the danger zone for kids between three and six o'clock

01:11:25.940 because there's no supervision.

01:11:27.440 So they get involved with drugs, with gangs, with violence, with alcohol, teenage pregnancy.

01:11:32.880 I said, this costs the community a lot of money.

01:11:35.100 Let's do something about it.

01:11:36.540 Everyone was complaining about it, but they weren't doing anything about it.

01:11:39.760 So I stepped out and I started the after school programs and, uh, it has been a huge hit.

01:11:44.940 We've raised over the last 30 years.

01:11:47.020 Are they still open?

01:11:47.820 $5 billion we raised.

01:11:50.140 Oh really?

01:11:50.560 How much was it?

01:11:51.040 All over the country.

01:11:52.340 We have been to millions and millions of kids.

01:11:54.460 We have helped with after school programs, with great success rates and all of this stuff.

01:11:58.720 So to me, it's all about how, how can I make this a better world?

01:12:02.360 So I see what you're saying.

01:12:03.080 So you feel like a lot of your legacy has kind of been lived along the way.

01:12:05.860 Exactly.

01:12:06.400 It's not like I want, this should be my legacy.

01:12:08.540 I don't think that way, but I think about, I want to improve the world, especially now.

01:12:13.880 But I mean, think about it.

01:12:15.640 I'm an immigrant.

01:12:17.740 I'm an immigrant that came over here and got every opportunity in the world

01:12:23.380 because of America, right?

01:12:25.640 America gave me everything.

01:12:26.920 They gave me the money that they have made, the career in bodybuilding, the career in acting,

01:12:32.040 uh, the, the wonderful family, all of that stuff is because of America.

01:12:36.680 So to me, it's a natural thing that they give something back to America.

01:12:40.440 Well, you're one of the most jacked immigrants too, that we've ever had probably, I think for 1.00

01:12:43.980 sure. 0.96

01:12:44.760 I hope so.

01:12:45.480 Yeah, you do.

01:12:46.760 And you're, you're competitive about it.

01:12:48.000 I love that.

01:12:48.940 You know, I can feel how competitive you are and that's great.

01:12:52.100 You have to be competitive because also America is a platform for, if you are competitive

01:12:56.080 and if you choose to apply yourself, that you can, uh, reach, um, some of your dreams

01:13:01.960 and goals and aspirations.

01:13:03.160 Do you think that it's still possible?

01:13:05.200 Like you've had this, you've gotten to live in America for a while now and, um, have a

01:13:09.100 good breadth of understanding here.

01:13:10.400 You've gotten to work in politics.

01:13:11.700 Do you think it's the American dream is still possible or, or do you think there's, there's

01:13:16.580 things happening these days that are, um, where we're not helping that along?

01:13:20.220 Well, I can tell you, I didn't study this issue, right?

01:13:25.880 So I couldn't really give you facts and figures, but what I, what I can tell you is no matter

01:13:30.780 where I go in the world today, people come up to me and says, Arnold, can you please help

01:13:37.500 me get to America?

01:13:38.280 So that never has changed.

01:13:42.360 It doesn't matter to immigrants. 1.00

01:13:44.680 People that want to come here, they don't know what the political situation, they don't

01:13:49.120 care if the Democrats in power or Republicans in power, what the Senate says, what the Congress

01:13:53.960 says, what the governor said, nothing.

01:13:56.160 They just want to come over here.

01:13:57.540 They want to get a shot, you know?

01:13:59.160 So this is what it is.

01:14:00.260 And they have to do it the legal way, you know?

01:14:02.520 I said, that is the key thing to me is to do it the legal way.

01:14:05.500 So anyway, the bottom line is, I think the opportunities are there.

01:14:09.280 When I go down to Gorge Gym, I see this guy from Africa that was competing in my bodybuilding

01:14:16.020 shows in the Arnold Classic and came, was in one of the top three, uh, uh, in, in order.

01:14:22.620 But then he became a personal trainer, he's charging $200 an hour, he's driving up one

01:14:28.680 day with his blue, uh, Bentley, the next day he's driving up with his red Ferrari.

01:14:35.100 And I mean, this, this is, this is a guy from Africa that came over here with nothing. 1.00

01:14:39.980 Yeah.

01:14:40.280 So this is a young kid is like maybe 35 or 40 years old and look at what he does.

01:14:46.060 So there's trainers down there that are from different countries.

01:14:48.900 There's people, if you're willing to work, that's why I always say to people, I say,

01:14:53.840 work your ass off. 0.99

01:14:54.920 Don't ever come. 1.00

01:14:56.360 This is my big advice to immigrants. 0.82

01:14:58.540 I say, don't ever come over here to just use this country.

01:15:02.460 I say, give something back. 0.94

01:15:04.640 Think about that you want to work your ass off here.

01:15:07.540 You want to educate yourself here.

01:15:09.400 You want to contribute to America here.

01:15:11.640 That's what you want to do.

01:15:12.720 Because the very fact that you're allowed to come over here, you should go and have that

01:15:16.400 mentality of wanting to give something back.

01:15:19.460 That's the bottom line.

01:15:20.560 Amen, man.

01:15:21.380 And I think that goes to it.

01:15:22.700 Even as you're saying that, I don't know, it's making me think about like even a relationships

01:15:25.940 that I'm in or business situations.

01:15:28.260 I should think of most things as that way.

01:15:30.380 Like, let me give something to this, right?

01:15:33.160 Whatever this is, if this is a relationship with a spouse or a girlfriend or a boyfriend

01:15:36.660 or a, um, if it's a team that I'm on or just a commitment I've had, I'm going to

01:15:41.380 spend an hour with my son or your, or my mom to do something.

01:15:44.500 Let me give something to this, right?

01:15:47.160 Let me not just take even this moment for granted, whatever it is.

01:15:50.340 Let me be here and be present and apply myself, um, to, so that we create something that, um,

01:15:57.040 just so I'm honoring the fact that I even have this moment in time.

01:16:00.340 Yes.

01:16:00.760 Yeah.

01:16:00.920 And let me tell you something that as soon as people realize that they're not self-made,

01:16:08.080 that there were a lot of people involved in where you are today, a lot of people, you

01:16:15.960 couldn't operate without the engineer.

01:16:17.720 You couldn't operate without the deal that you got to do this and blah, blah, blah, and

01:16:21.380 all this kind of stuff.

01:16:23.360 You have to recognize that because when you recognize that you're not self-made, that

01:16:26.980 people have helped you, that is what makes you think, click and say, I got to now help

01:16:32.280 other people.

01:16:32.940 I have the responsibility to help other people.

01:16:36.480 And then you realize how much joy it brings you when you see that you have an impact and

01:16:41.540 you can help other people.

01:16:42.840 That's why we have the pump club. 1.00

01:16:44.220 And that's why we do the Arnold Classic and the promotion of bodybuilding and environmental

01:16:48.700 stuff and the afterschool programs.

01:16:50.660 I mean, to go to one of this afterschool program, the conventions, and to hear the kids'

01:16:56.080 stories, it just makes you feel so good that you did that, that you raised the money.

01:17:01.960 We have poker tournaments at my house where we raised like $7, $8 million sometimes.

01:17:06.880 And then we put this right into the afterschool programs.

01:17:09.300 So this is where the action is.

01:17:11.100 And you can do all of that because, as I always say, the day is 24 hours.

01:17:15.080 And I talk about a lot at great length in my book, and it'll be useful.

01:17:19.160 I talk about all of those kind of principles of giving back and having a vision and don't

01:17:24.420 listen to the naysayers and all those kind of things.

01:17:27.060 Who do you go to for your, like your inspiration?

01:17:29.260 Do you have like a coach or a mentor over the years?

01:17:31.120 Have you had like, like you go to Tony Robbins, do you hire some of these guys who are really

01:17:34.400 good at this type of stuff to help you in certain speed bumps in your life?

01:17:38.100 Well, I would say that I have always had mentors, like, you know, the Weeders that helped me 0.99

01:17:44.600 and I looked up to them.

01:17:45.940 Reg Park is something then bodybuilding that I looked up to.

01:17:49.180 Then later on was like Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California, then became president.

01:17:53.820 And Nixon, people that I looked up to, or George Shultz, who was secretary of state under

01:18:00.200 Reagan, that then became my mentor when I became governor and told me about how to work together

01:18:05.880 with Democrats and Republicans and not to just, it's my way or the highway type of thing.

01:18:10.040 Did you get to meet Reagan?

01:18:11.620 Yeah, for many times.

01:18:12.640 Oh, really?

01:18:13.280 Yeah, yeah.

01:18:14.280 Wow.

01:18:14.740 What was he like, man?

01:18:15.420 I was at the White House.

01:18:16.440 I was invited to state dinners there and everything like that.

01:18:19.520 They have good food over there?

01:18:20.760 Say again?

01:18:21.260 Good food over there, huh?

01:18:22.300 Oh, yeah.

01:18:23.220 Yeah, they know how to cook. 0.99

01:18:24.600 Hell, yeah.

01:18:25.160 Yeah, exactly.

01:18:25.860 Yeah.

01:18:26.460 God, I love that.

01:18:27.020 But there's, and then also Nixon, I mean, I was down at the Nixon Library, I remember

01:18:31.820 in the early 90s, and that's when Nixon, just without telling me, called me up on stage

01:18:39.500 and wanted me to give a speech.

01:18:42.360 You know, so I told him how I became a Nixon fan and, you know, when I came over here to

01:18:46.640 this country and all that stuff.

01:18:47.900 He loved it.

01:18:48.640 He said to me, he says,

01:18:49.200 Oh, you should become governor of California.

01:18:52.140 You know?

01:18:53.220 And so it was really great.

01:18:55.200 So he was one of the guys that always pushed about it.

01:18:57.500 That's awesome.

01:18:57.720 That's Bob Hope right there.

01:18:58.740 Yeah, exactly.

01:18:59.460 I just got back.

01:18:59.940 I just did a show in Qatar.

01:19:01.040 Qatar? 0.56

01:19:01.600 Qatar? 0.56

01:19:02.100 Oh, you did?

01:19:02.580 It was pretty cool.

01:19:03.280 Yeah.

01:19:03.940 I happened to just be over there.

01:19:05.400 Trump was over there speaking to it the same day, but we just did a show for the troops.

01:19:08.660 Oh, yeah, yeah.

01:19:09.100 Exactly.

01:19:09.480 But this is a great thing that you do.

01:19:11.280 It was awesome.

01:19:11.740 I tell you, there's nothing that they appreciate more than to go there and to schmooze with

01:19:17.300 them, take photographs with them, or tell them some jokes.

01:19:21.040 Yeah.

01:19:21.240 So I remember I did it with Jay Leno.

01:19:23.300 It was hit or miss.

01:19:24.020 There we are right there.

01:19:24.940 Oh, man.

01:19:25.600 Look at that.

01:19:26.800 That's what I'm...

01:19:27.520 Look at that team.

01:19:28.560 A couple of Klu Klux Sandsmen.

01:19:30.340 That's the joke I made.

01:19:31.600 Yeah.

01:19:32.520 Pretty good joke.

01:19:33.260 I think it's good.

01:19:34.200 Yeah.

01:19:35.680 Do you do that often?

01:19:38.140 Do you do shows for...

01:19:39.500 I did it for a long time, and then I've taken a break recently.

01:19:42.220 For troops.

01:19:42.800 Yeah.

01:19:43.240 Yeah.

01:19:43.680 I did it for a long time, and then I've taken a break recently, but this really reignited

01:19:48.180 me on it.

01:19:48.660 I was actually texting a couple of friends of mine and saying, let's go do some just even

01:19:53.420 close bases that are close to us in America.

01:19:55.500 Whatever we can, let's start to do it a little bit more, and I think we're going to start

01:19:59.700 to do it more.

01:20:00.320 So I'm really excited about that.

01:20:01.560 I feel really lucky.

01:20:02.360 I mean, my whole job is freedom of speech, right?

01:20:04.540 So it's like, if people aren't protecting that, you can't even be a comedian in some

01:20:08.200 countries, you know?

01:20:08.880 No, of course not.

01:20:09.640 Yeah.

01:20:09.780 No, I think it's a great idea.

01:20:11.760 And of course, I remember that when I was in my height in my bodybuilding days, I was

01:20:17.060 invited to go on the aircraft carrier, Norfolk, Virginia, and to go and train with

01:20:23.980 the sailors.

01:20:24.860 Oh.

01:20:25.500 And to show them how to exercise and all that stuff.

01:20:27.700 It was fantastic.

01:20:28.720 I bet they loved that.

01:20:29.900 It was up there.

01:20:30.600 And I said, ever since then, I really found it really enjoyable to go, if it's down here,

01:20:36.740 there near San Diego, to Pendleton, or any of those military bases.

01:20:41.020 Or if I go to Seoul, South Korea, or to Japan, or anywhere I go, Middle East, I was in Kuwait

01:20:47.100 and visiting the military base.

01:20:47.940 Oh, yeah.

01:20:48.220 It's fun over there.

01:20:48.780 Working out with them at like three, four in the morning. 0.99

01:20:51.500 Dude, when I work out with them, they don't give a shit. 0.99

01:20:53.320 I'll tell you that. 0.99

01:20:54.080 Well, I tell you that there's some really serious lifters there.

01:20:57.780 Yeah.

01:20:58.200 But they do not want to see me do anything.

01:21:01.680 I usually stand on the side and just drink.

01:21:03.000 I'll have a little bit of a protein shake, but when you, what about like, was it hard

01:21:08.720 with your whole life?

01:21:09.500 Was it tough to be like, was it ever tough to be a good husband or be a good dad?

01:21:13.000 Like if so much of your job takes like your work side of you, because I noticed for me,

01:21:17.080 like I'm not married yet.

01:21:17.960 I would like to find a wife, but it's hard for me to even find time, you know?

01:21:22.080 Like, is it tough?

01:21:22.880 Like, were there moments where, because your life gets so big, right?

01:21:27.540 And you've had a big life. 0.98

01:21:28.720 I mean, there's like you, Arnold, and then the other guy, hey Arnold, he's a fucking drawing, 0.98

01:21:33.160 I think, right? 0.90

01:21:33.760 So you're the only, you're like, the name is yours, really.

01:21:37.160 Right.

01:21:37.460 Like, does it ever get hard to be a parent or something?

01:21:40.460 Because of how big you're.

01:21:41.880 Let me tell you something.

01:21:43.160 Everything that you want to do that is really good and you want to go all out,

01:21:47.960 it's difficult, it's challenging.

01:21:50.520 But I was very fortunate because I married a woman that understood that I have to work

01:21:57.640 and she didn't complain about it, you know?

01:22:00.600 So we got together and they understood that right away because of the family she came from,

01:22:04.260 the Kennedy family, right?

01:22:05.760 So Maria Shriver was like, she understood that all of her.

01:22:09.720 Bobby Kennedy, she related to Bobby Kennedy?

01:22:11.120 Exactly, yeah.

01:22:11.420 So if it is, you know, John F. Kennedy, if it was Bobby Kennedy Sr., you know, when he ran for president.

01:22:19.440 I mean, her father ran for president and for vice president and all of this.

01:22:23.320 So she was used to that everyone has to go out and work.

01:22:27.100 The energy of it all.

01:22:27.980 He was at the house in the morning and they came back late at night.

01:22:30.880 Or like, for instance, he then laid on, you know, was traveling around the world for Special Olympics

01:22:35.260 because, and her mother was also a workaholic. 1.00

01:22:38.480 And so she understood that.

01:22:40.180 And so when I was going on location, when we had kids, she would go and she would stop her job in New York,

01:22:48.680 the NBC job that she was hosting, the morning news.

01:22:51.020 And she would stay home and she would stay with the kids.

01:22:56.000 And so this is why we have four terrific kids that we created together.

01:23:00.320 And Patrick, of course, we're very proud of him.

01:23:02.800 Oh, yeah.

01:23:03.200 I love his new show.

01:23:04.820 The show.

01:23:05.440 So cool.

01:23:05.640 He did a great job.

01:23:06.460 He did a fantastic job.

01:23:08.080 And, you know, Catherine is fantastic and writes books and all this stuff.

01:23:11.600 And who are your other two children?

01:23:12.860 Just so we are.

01:23:13.480 Christina and Christopher.

01:23:15.660 And Christopher.

01:23:16.080 And Christopher is also in show business.

01:23:18.120 He's, you know, working for a production company.

01:23:21.400 He reads more scripts than I ever read in my whole life.

01:23:24.640 But, I mean, so it's really great to see all the kids.

01:23:27.020 And then I have one son outside the marriage, which is Joseph.

01:23:30.320 And Joseph is also doing terrific in real estate.

01:23:33.300 So it's a key thing is to really concentrate on being a participative father when you have kids.

01:23:42.800 Because you've got to go.

01:23:44.000 They want to see you ski when you go up and say, let's go skiing.

01:23:48.160 They don't want you to just send them up in the mountains in the cold weather.

01:23:51.200 But they freeze their butt off.

01:23:52.340 They want to see you sitting on the chairlift, go up with the skis, and ski with them.

01:23:57.100 So that's what I did.

01:23:57.720 They're showing up.

01:23:58.160 So they, of course, they hated it when they were kids.

01:24:02.100 They said, oh, daddy, let's go in.

01:24:03.500 I want to get a hot chocolate.

01:24:04.760 They said, there is no hot chocolate.

01:24:06.860 There's skiing.

01:24:07.620 I said, this is a ski mountain, not a hot chocolate mountain.

01:24:10.020 I said, what's the matter with you kids?

01:24:11.480 You know?

01:24:11.820 And then they were crying on the chair.

01:24:13.600 And then we were going up there on the chairlift.

01:24:15.940 And we were skiing down and skiing down for three, four hours.

01:24:18.460 And then we had the hot chocolate and we had the lunch and all that stuff.

01:24:21.680 And now, when they go up to Sun Valley and go skiing, they stop me and they say, dad, I just want you to know how much I appreciate that you made us ski.

01:24:31.200 Because now I ski fantastic.

01:24:33.500 I can go down on any run.

01:24:35.060 And they love it.

01:24:35.580 And they think of you when they do it.

01:24:37.500 That's what I always tell my friends.

01:24:39.060 I say, don't just go and take pictures of them skiing.

01:24:41.560 No.

01:24:42.040 You put the skis on.

01:24:43.560 You put the ski boots on.

01:24:45.040 And you go and do it.

01:24:46.460 It's the same with playing soccer.

01:24:47.780 I was playing soccer with my son.

01:24:49.520 And I was, you got to go and participate in all of this stuff.

01:24:52.380 And so this is what I believed in.

01:24:54.160 I went to all the games with my wife. 1.00

01:24:56.300 Oh, damn. 1.00

01:24:57.920 My God, brother. 1.00

01:24:59.120 Well, Andy Leverwitz can make anyone look good.

01:25:02.920 I guess.

01:25:03.800 Yeah.

01:25:04.320 My gosh.

01:25:06.380 No, but you know what?

01:25:07.280 I just gathered from some of your things.

01:25:08.700 It's just the application of self, right?

01:25:10.540 And that you have to go get it.

01:25:12.040 You have to go do this, right?

01:25:14.380 Yeah.

01:25:14.660 Do you know Bobby pretty good?

01:25:15.600 Bobby Kennedy is a friend of mine.

01:25:16.700 Yeah.

01:25:17.080 Yeah.

01:25:17.840 Bobby, I mean, let me tell you something about Bobby.

01:25:21.180 He's a great guy.

01:25:22.440 Oh, he's one of my favorite.

01:25:23.300 He's one of my favorite guys.

01:25:24.500 I know him from recovery.

01:25:25.880 We go to recovery meetings together.

01:25:27.020 But think about this for a second.

01:25:29.660 I'm running for governor in 2003.

01:25:34.980 And then all of a sudden, they get a phone call from Bobby,

01:25:37.140 who I knew very well.

01:25:38.160 And Bobby and Joe Kennedy, his brother, his older brother,

01:25:41.840 and they were always really kind of nice to me

01:25:44.440 and kind and inclusive and stuff like that. 1.00

01:25:47.120 Well, fuck you. 1.00

01:25:47.840 You're the damn Terminator. 1.00

01:25:49.020 They got to be at least cordial. 1.00

01:25:50.400 No, no.

01:25:50.420 But I mean, you know, some people are kind of like,

01:25:52.200 oh, who is this new guy coming into the family type of thing?

01:25:54.780 Oh, I see.

01:25:55.160 Especially their family because it's a prestigious thing.

01:25:57.280 That's right, yeah.

01:25:58.140 So, but they were really nice.

01:25:59.840 So Bobby calls me and he says,

01:26:01.560 Arnold, you're a Republican.

01:26:04.480 Republicans are not known for the environmental record.

01:26:07.520 He says, I'm an environmentalist.

01:26:09.280 He says, yes, you know,

01:26:10.160 I'm the head of the river keepers and all that stuff.

01:26:13.140 And I have a guy that you should have a new team

01:26:16.880 that can educate you really about the environment.

01:26:20.020 I said, well, thank you, Bobby.

01:26:22.100 That's really nice.

01:26:22.660 I said, who is it?

01:26:23.360 Terry Taminen.

01:26:24.960 He says, let me send him over to your office.

01:26:27.680 He sent over Terry Taminen.

01:26:28.980 We hit it off right away really well.

01:26:30.960 And the next thing I know is we're working together.

01:26:33.400 He's part of the team.

01:26:34.880 And then when I became governor,

01:26:36.780 and I think that contributed to me becoming governor

01:26:38.820 because I saw this whole idea

01:26:40.660 that I want to be environmentally friendly.

01:26:43.200 I want to reduce greenhouse gases.

01:26:44.660 I want to get that renewable energy up in California

01:26:48.420 and all of this stuff.

01:26:50.000 So the next thing I said, I become governor.

01:26:52.440 He becomes now Terry Taminen

01:26:53.740 and becomes the head of the EPA and all of this.

01:26:56.520 But this all happened,

01:26:59.060 in my knowledge about the environment,

01:27:00.720 all this happened because of Bobby Kennedy.

01:27:02.680 So that's the kind of a guy he is.

01:27:04.460 I mean, he's like, didn't say, oh, you're a Republican.

01:27:06.640 I'm going to campaign against you.

01:27:08.140 No, he was 100% on board.

01:27:11.300 He wanted to wish me good luck.

01:27:12.700 And he did wish me good luck.

01:27:14.140 And he wanted me to win,

01:27:16.020 not because I'm a Republican.

01:27:18.260 He just felt like, oh, I like Arnold.

01:27:21.000 I want the good guy to win, no matter what side he's on.

01:27:23.520 Exactly.

01:27:23.880 So that's the kind of a guy Bobby is, you know?

01:27:26.380 So I think the world of him.

01:27:28.640 Yeah, he's cool.

01:27:29.260 We had him on the podcast

01:27:30.160 when everybody was thinking he was kind of crazy

01:27:31.860 during the pandemic and stuff.

01:27:33.120 And he was concerned about just people's health

01:27:34.800 and well-being with vaccines and stuff.

01:27:36.940 We had him on.

01:27:38.940 But yeah, I've always known him to be just a neat guy.

01:27:41.460 You know, he's my friend.

01:27:42.180 Yeah, I'm excited for him.

01:27:44.700 I'm curious to see what it's like once you get into office.

01:27:47.200 How can you still keep your beliefs or not?

01:27:50.060 Or do things get heavily compromised?

01:27:51.840 Do you feel like?

01:27:52.920 Yeah, it is compromised.

01:27:54.800 You have to.

01:27:55.640 You have to compromise.

01:27:56.240 Because the whole world doesn't think exactly like you.

01:28:00.120 And remember what Eisenhower said.

01:28:02.420 Eisenhower said that politics is like the road.

01:28:05.900 The left and the right is the gutter.

01:28:08.340 And the center is drivable.

01:28:11.340 And that's exactly the way it is in politics.

01:28:13.260 You have to understand that there's a sweet spot.

01:28:16.320 You know, like the teacher in golf,

01:28:18.200 hit the sweet spot.

01:28:18.900 Or in tennis, they hit the sweet spot.

01:28:20.460 There's a sweet spot to find exactly so you can get a deal made

01:28:24.900 and that you can move things forward.

01:28:26.500 It's not exactly your way.

01:28:28.440 I mean, I remember with the infrastructure,

01:28:30.060 I wanted to build $100 billion worth of infrastructure.

01:28:32.980 But they only agreed on around $60 billion.

01:28:37.040 So I didn't get in my way.

01:28:38.940 With the financial situation, I wanted to wipe out the deficit.

01:28:42.900 And I was not able to do that with all these Democrats around.

01:28:46.720 They love to spend money.

01:28:48.500 So I was stuck with it.

01:28:50.560 But the fact of the way we could improve the situation

01:28:53.600 and I was able to work together with the Democrats

01:28:56.300 on environmental issues and infrastructure issues

01:28:59.000 and so many other health care issues,

01:29:00.800 so many other issues, education and all of this stuff.

01:29:03.860 And we did really fine.

01:29:05.180 I had a great time up there being governor of the state of California.

01:29:08.340 But it's about compromise.

01:29:09.460 I mean, you've said before that you can't do everything.

01:29:11.060 You can't do it all by yourself, right?

01:29:12.660 No, it's not a dictatorship.

01:29:14.200 So you have two parties.

01:29:16.280 Within your own party, they think differently.

01:29:19.380 So you have to face reality.

01:29:21.640 The trick is just to not hate the other side

01:29:26.100 because they think differently.

01:29:28.340 It's just kind of like figuring out how can we work together

01:29:31.060 and how can we do something that's really good for the people.

01:29:33.860 That's the bottom line.

01:29:35.600 They just had,

01:29:36.420 do you think we'll ever have a Republican governor again in California?

01:29:39.480 Well, you know, if someone has a good program

01:29:43.560 and if someone is organic,

01:29:47.520 I mean, with me, it was possible

01:29:50.320 because I had a great mentor, number one,

01:29:53.820 which was Pete Wilson,

01:29:55.600 who was a governor of California, two terms.

01:29:58.560 And he helped me.

01:29:59.160 Pete Wilson?

01:29:59.700 Yeah, Pete Wilson, yeah.

01:30:00.740 And he helped me, you know, with the race a lot.

01:30:05.200 And then I also was organic because, you know,

01:30:09.400 people saw that I did not come out of nowhere

01:30:11.960 where I always went from acting to politics.

01:30:15.260 I mean, I was working with Special Olympics for decades,

01:30:19.500 going around to the world to help Special Olympics

01:30:22.060 and to get recognition for them

01:30:23.520 and to be able to get jobs

01:30:25.800 and to have, you know,

01:30:27.260 be able to live anywhere they want

01:30:29.420 and to get into sports, Special Olympics sports programs,

01:30:33.080 powerlifting and all this.

01:30:34.560 So I was always fighting for equality,

01:30:36.700 including in South Africa with Nelson Mandela.

01:30:39.360 We were there together fighting for Special Olympics.

01:30:42.140 So the people in California saw all of that.

01:30:45.040 And also me starting the after-school programs

01:30:47.260 and having an initiative that I went to the people

01:30:50.460 a year before in 2002,

01:30:52.700 and the people voted 57% in favor of that initiative

01:30:55.920 to help after-school programs.

01:30:57.820 So I was already in there

01:30:59.180 and I was working with President Bush

01:31:01.400 being the chairman of the President's Council

01:31:03.900 on Physical Fitness and Sports.

01:31:05.960 So I was already giving back and giving back and giving back.

01:31:09.000 So when I said, now, I'm not interested anymore

01:31:13.680 in just doing another movie.

01:31:15.600 I'm more interested in getting the state of California

01:31:17.840 back on its feet

01:31:18.920 because we had blackouts with huge deficits.

01:31:22.120 You know, the illegals were getting driver's license. 0.85

01:31:24.240 There was all kinds of crazy stuff that was going on here.

01:31:27.300 And I said to myself, you know,

01:31:28.600 the Indian gaming, they didn't pay taxes 1.00

01:31:31.160 and they didn't order gaming

01:31:32.340 and made billions of dollars.

01:31:34.120 And their workers' compensation costs were high

01:31:37.100 and people were moving out

01:31:38.540 with their businesses in California.

01:31:39.900 I said, I will bring California back.

01:31:42.720 No matter how many people were campaigning

01:31:44.500 for Gray Davis, who was governor then.

01:31:46.760 You know, Clinton came out and campaigned for him.

01:31:48.740 Gore came out.

01:31:50.220 John Kerry came out.

01:31:51.820 Al Sharpton.

01:31:52.560 All of those guys came out to campaign for him.

01:31:54.920 I said to Bush, I said, no, no, don't come out.

01:31:56.960 I don't need that.

01:31:57.880 It's between me and the voters.

01:31:59.240 Yeah.

01:31:59.500 And so I convinced the California people

01:32:01.740 and that's how I became governor.

01:32:03.960 That's why I got a huge majority of votes.

01:32:06.780 But it was organic.

01:32:08.720 So many of the guys come from real estate

01:32:11.100 and they say, well, I want to be governor.

01:32:12.520 I have the money now.

01:32:13.820 And people don't buy in on that stuff.

01:32:17.060 Right, you can't just buy it.

01:32:17.960 I don't think you can just buy it.

01:32:19.140 You had Bloomberg tried to do it a few years ago.

01:32:21.280 It didn't work.

01:32:21.800 Yeah, you have to be real.

01:32:23.280 And you have to be able to have a vision.

01:32:26.300 Remember, again, it goes back to the book,

01:32:28.080 you know, be useful.

01:32:30.380 You have, rule number one is you have to have a clear vision.

01:32:33.400 You can't just say, I want to be governor.

01:32:35.160 What is your vision?

01:32:36.140 If someone sits down and says,

01:32:37.300 what is your vision of your California?

01:32:39.640 Right.

01:32:40.040 And remember that Teddy Kennedy, the problem he had,

01:32:42.840 when they asked him, Roger Mudd asked him,

01:32:45.240 when he announced to run for president,

01:32:47.840 and Roger Mudd asked him, he says,

01:32:49.100 why do you want to be president?

01:32:51.880 Teddy couldn't answer it.

01:32:53.660 You know what I'm saying?

01:32:54.520 So he was like, well, my mother rose.

01:32:56.400 He always taught us to give something back.

01:32:59.780 And so it didn't work.

01:33:01.440 People didn't buy it.

01:33:02.240 And even though he was a great public servant,

01:33:03.760 he did a great job.

01:33:04.760 You know the vision.

01:33:05.380 But he couldn't sell it.

01:33:06.780 So you have to come out of the gate

01:33:08.360 and really be very forceful

01:33:10.220 and know and let the people know,

01:33:12.720 I know what I want to do.

01:33:14.440 Now I'm going to fight for you.

01:33:16.400 Let's fight for me.

01:33:17.620 I don't want to be a political hack.

01:33:20.320 I don't want to be just another Republican

01:33:22.120 that wins the thing.

01:33:23.100 No, I want to fight for you.

01:33:25.200 So that was the whole theme of the campaign.

01:33:28.640 They have like,

01:33:29.260 they just had where they found

01:33:31.220 like 20 something billion dollars

01:33:33.120 that was like,

01:33:34.120 it was supposed to be earmarked

01:33:35.100 for homeless help in California

01:33:37.080 that went missing, right?

01:33:39.360 How does money go missing

01:33:40.760 once you're in these places, do you think?

01:33:42.660 Is it just like people,

01:33:44.660 what does it say?

01:33:45.280 Newsom confronted at the press conference

01:33:46.640 about 24 billion spent on tackling homelessness.

01:33:48.740 Like how does stuff like that,

01:33:51.780 and it didn't even have to be this specifically,

01:33:53.380 but once you're in office

01:33:54.600 and you see these huge amounts of money,

01:33:56.800 how does stuff like that

01:33:58.600 just go by the wayside

01:33:59.500 where it gets, you know,

01:34:02.600 lost or missing hypothetically,

01:34:04.520 do you think?

01:34:05.840 Well, first of all,

01:34:06.860 let me just say,

01:34:08.680 none of those politicians

01:34:10.180 I would want to run my company.

01:34:13.340 Yeah.

01:34:16.140 None of those companies,

01:34:17.900 none of those politicians,

01:34:18.880 I would like to hand over my checkbook,

01:34:21.100 my bank account and say,

01:34:22.160 you manage it now.

01:34:23.180 Yeah.

01:34:24.220 Right?

01:34:24.900 So that's where it starts.

01:34:26.160 So they're not that smart

01:34:29.880 when it comes to solving problems.

01:34:33.120 And so I can totally understand

01:34:35.180 how 24 billion dollars is missing

01:34:36.840 because it's wasted.

01:34:39.000 They cannot even show it.

01:34:40.060 They cannot even have any accountability.

01:34:42.500 But this has been going on for 20 years now.

01:34:44.760 I know.

01:34:45.120 We're not talking about

01:34:46.000 just for the last few years.

01:34:47.260 This has been going on and on.

01:34:48.560 Everyone has been complaining

01:34:49.540 about the homeless,

01:34:50.580 but they don't create,

01:34:51.760 they don't really tell you

01:34:53.160 that this was created by the politicians,

01:34:56.560 the homelessness.

01:34:57.380 Did Reagan create it though?

01:34:58.760 No, no.

01:34:59.160 It was created by having people go and say,

01:35:04.060 we don't want no growth in California.

01:35:07.340 So when you have 19,

01:35:08.500 when I came over here,

01:35:09.260 it was 19,

01:35:09.880 20 million people in California.

01:35:12.400 Well,

01:35:13.340 they'd be at six lane highways.

01:35:15.100 So now when you go to 40 million people,

01:35:17.940 you would know mathematically

01:35:19.520 now you need 12 lane highways,

01:35:21.320 meaning six lanes

01:35:22.520 and then on top of it,

01:35:23.420 you build another freeway, right?

01:35:24.760 So you don't have to have traffic congestion.

01:35:27.280 But that's not what they did.

01:35:28.560 Right.

01:35:28.840 Then when you have to,

01:35:29.860 you know,

01:35:30.060 when you go from 20 to 40 million people,

01:35:32.320 then you need twice as many houses.

01:35:34.360 Yeah.

01:35:34.620 You need twice as many apartment buildings.

01:35:36.900 You need twice as much of everything,

01:35:38.740 schools and everything.

01:35:39.900 And they didn't.

01:35:40.900 They didn't take care of them

01:35:41.780 because the environmentalists thought

01:35:43.300 that if we say no growth,

01:35:45.660 then no one will come.

01:35:46.840 But in the meantime, 0.98

01:35:47.440 no one gives a shit about that. 0.99

01:35:48.940 They come anyway. 0.98

01:35:50.120 And then they somehow then live

01:35:51.560 three people in one apartment

01:35:53.260 or five people in one apartment

01:35:54.760 or sometimes,

01:35:56.020 you know,

01:35:57.820 workers that sometimes live

01:35:59.780 10 people in one apartment.

01:36:01.060 Oh, yeah.

01:36:01.660 They'll really be laying on each other's backs.

01:36:03.320 So then what happens now is

01:36:05.400 when you have a limited amount of housing,

01:36:08.580 now the prices rise.

01:36:10.840 So now when the prices go up,

01:36:13.300 the value of the apartment building goes up.

01:36:15.320 So the unit that used to cost $600

01:36:17.120 now costs $3,000 a month.

01:36:20.360 But the salaries,

01:36:21.340 the wages didn't go up accordingly.

01:36:22.940 So now you have people

01:36:24.220 that are economically homeless.

01:36:27.320 They cannot afford paying for their rent anymore.

01:36:30.020 So this is created by the politicians.

01:36:33.880 And now remember

01:36:34.820 what Einstein said.

01:36:37.940 The people that created the problem

01:36:39.960 cannot solve it.

01:36:42.420 So they are doing the same thing over,

01:36:44.680 which is another thing Einstein said.

01:36:46.360 If you try to do the same thing

01:36:47.480 over and over again

01:36:48.340 and expect different results,

01:36:50.680 that's the definition of insanity.

01:36:52.600 And it feels like that's where we're living.

01:36:53.980 So this is what we're dealing with here.

01:36:56.120 So we have, you know,

01:36:57.260 the city here is not able to manage

01:36:59.720 this whole thing.

01:37:01.200 On a state level,

01:37:02.060 we are not able to manage this whole thing.

01:37:04.380 So it's like I had to go.

01:37:06.740 I mean, we had the homeless veterans

01:37:09.020 camping out in front

01:37:12.080 of the Veterans Administration

01:37:13.700 up there in Westwood.

01:37:15.120 Oh yeah, right over there,

01:37:16.200 405 in Santa Monica.

01:37:17.000 In front, right in front of the four.

01:37:19.920 In Wilshire.

01:37:20.480 Years.

01:37:21.680 They're camping out there

01:37:23.140 and no one is helping them.

01:37:26.500 So I went and I started making a deal

01:37:29.020 and I said,

01:37:29.780 can we not put inside some houses?

01:37:33.460 Little houses.

01:37:35.600 And they said, yes.

01:37:37.560 And we started,

01:37:38.320 I donated the money

01:37:39.440 and we started building houses.

01:37:41.360 And since then,

01:37:42.260 there's now hundreds of houses

01:37:43.500 inside the Veterans Administration

01:37:45.740 and the homeless are gone.

01:37:47.280 Because they wanted to help

01:37:49.100 the Veterans Administration,

01:37:50.860 but it took a while

01:37:51.900 and the city kept saying,

01:37:53.040 oh, it is too difficult to do

01:37:54.560 and this is really challenging to do.

01:37:56.380 I said, watch that.

01:37:58.360 Within two months,

01:37:59.940 we had those houses there

01:38:00.920 and we created homes for 25 people

01:38:02.940 so they could move in.

01:38:04.260 Just to show to the city,

01:38:05.580 it can be done.

01:38:06.640 Amen.

01:38:06.880 Don't give me this,

01:38:07.540 it can't be done.

01:38:08.800 Anything can be done

01:38:09.760 if there's a will to it

01:38:10.920 with the whole thing.

01:38:12.040 Amen.

01:38:13.300 I have two quick questions for you

01:38:14.580 just about people.

01:38:15.300 Thank you so much for your time today, Arnold.

01:38:16.480 Thanks for the inspiration.

01:38:17.360 I feel like this has been

01:38:17.960 an inspirational conversation for me.

01:38:19.920 You never know

01:38:20.300 what certain conversations

01:38:21.160 are going to be like.

01:38:22.040 Thanks for your contributions

01:38:22.880 to entertainment

01:38:23.660 and to just,

01:38:25.860 it's evident that you,

01:38:27.100 you know,

01:38:28.020 you are the American dream

01:38:28.960 and it made me feel like

01:38:29.960 it is still possible,

01:38:30.860 which I don't know

01:38:31.360 if I even felt like that

01:38:32.260 when I started this conversation.

01:38:34.220 Did you ever get to meet

01:38:35.220 Michael Landon before?

01:38:37.240 No.

01:38:37.580 You didn't?

01:38:38.020 I love him.

01:38:39.560 He was one of my favorites.

01:38:40.620 And did you ever get to meet

01:38:41.280 Michael Jackson before?

01:38:42.460 Yeah.

01:38:43.060 What was he like?

01:38:43.880 Do you have any good,

01:38:44.300 like a cool story about him?

01:38:45.960 Really nice man.

01:38:47.940 I mean,

01:38:48.300 he was very nice.

01:38:49.000 He came to my trailer

01:38:49.860 several times

01:38:51.060 when I was filming over there

01:38:52.340 in Universal lot,

01:38:54.160 the studio,

01:38:54.820 and then we had also dinner

01:38:55.980 several times.

01:38:57.340 I remember one time

01:38:58.380 with Katzenberg,

01:38:59.960 and maybe it was even

01:39:00.960 Katzenberg that organized it.

01:39:02.320 I cannot remember anymore.

01:39:03.440 But I mean,

01:39:04.160 yeah,

01:39:04.420 I mean,

01:39:04.620 he was a wonderful,

01:39:05.460 wonderful guy.

01:39:06.820 Would he tell stories

01:39:07.580 and stuff like regular people

01:39:08.400 because they always make him

01:39:09.040 seem so quiet?

01:39:09.860 No,

01:39:10.020 no,

01:39:10.200 he's quiet.

01:39:11.620 And it could be because

01:39:13.040 he wanted to protect his voice.

01:39:15.820 And he was odd.

01:39:16.920 Yeah.

01:39:17.320 No two ways about that.

01:39:18.440 But he was very,

01:39:19.940 very nice

01:39:20.440 and very interesting

01:39:21.880 and fascinated

01:39:23.160 about different things.

01:39:24.240 and he was many times

01:39:28.620 he always felt like

01:39:29.400 you're talking to a child.

01:39:31.800 Oh,

01:39:32.020 I can see that for sure.

01:39:32.900 You know,

01:39:33.120 he would shift into this thing

01:39:34.480 where things that

01:39:35.740 children are really into,

01:39:39.240 you know,

01:39:39.580 kind of like riots

01:39:40.620 and Disney

01:39:41.260 or something like that

01:39:42.320 that he would talk about

01:39:43.340 that really interested him.

01:39:45.920 And so it was

01:39:46.880 kind of an interesting thing.

01:39:49.260 but you can see

01:39:50.100 the way he grew up

01:39:51.220 and with the amount

01:39:52.840 of fame

01:39:53.560 that he had,

01:39:55.080 how difficult

01:39:55.720 it must have been

01:39:56.540 for him

01:39:57.020 to handle all that.

01:39:58.440 Oh,

01:39:58.660 I can't even,

01:39:58.940 yeah.

01:39:59.040 And to be this genius

01:40:00.240 of a musician.

01:40:02.280 I mean,

01:40:02.540 it's like unbelievable.

01:40:03.760 And it's sad

01:40:04.460 that he got addicted

01:40:05.260 to this kind of,

01:40:06.900 you know,

01:40:07.380 sleeping thing.

01:40:08.200 Propofol,

01:40:08.640 I think,

01:40:08.920 or something.

01:40:09.420 Yeah.

01:40:09.900 And then I took

01:40:10.860 too much of it

01:40:11.640 and passed away.

01:40:12.660 It was a huge loss

01:40:13.760 for the world

01:40:14.220 because he was just

01:40:14.940 such a fantastic entertainer.

01:40:17.200 Yeah.

01:40:17.760 Yeah,

01:40:18.080 I'll see his children

01:40:18.820 every now and then.

01:40:19.900 I'll cross paths

01:40:20.780 with his daughter

01:40:21.280 every once in a while.

01:40:23.620 Anything else

01:40:24.200 that you want to share on?

01:40:25.020 I think it's been

01:40:25.500 a good conversation.

01:40:26.460 Do you guys feel like that?

01:40:27.240 I think that the key thing

01:40:28.200 is,

01:40:28.600 you know,

01:40:29.820 that we pump up,

01:40:31.260 you know,

01:40:33.020 that while you're

01:40:33.820 airing this interview,

01:40:35.900 that you show

01:40:36.640 every 10 minutes

01:40:38.620 a trailer

01:40:39.260 of...

01:40:40.480 FUBAR?

01:40:41.000 FUBAR.

01:40:41.540 Okay.

01:40:42.060 And then while I'm talking,

01:40:43.720 you show a little bit

01:40:44.380 of the clips again

01:40:45.140 and then a little bit of that.

01:40:46.360 That's fair.

01:40:46.920 Let me help you

01:40:47.640 with the editing,

01:40:48.260 okay?

01:40:49.920 Hey,

01:40:50.320 I promise you this.

01:40:51.220 I will certainly support it

01:40:52.840 and I'll watch some more of it.

01:40:54.060 I'm going to get

01:40:54.320 some of my friends

01:40:54.760 to watch it.

01:40:55.200 We grew up watching

01:40:55.980 just so many other movies.

01:40:57.400 The lady with the three breasts, 0.98

01:40:58.680 remember that one?

01:40:59.220 She was like,

01:40:59.880 God.

01:41:00.340 Oh, yeah,

01:41:00.540 from Total Recall.

01:41:01.460 Oh.

01:41:01.940 Yeah,

01:41:02.220 exactly.

01:41:02.900 I recalled those a lot,

01:41:04.220 brother,

01:41:04.500 you know?

01:41:04.880 Yeah,

01:41:05.640 and I totaled them up

01:41:06.540 three every time,

01:41:07.500 you know?

01:41:08.760 But thank you for that. 0.85

01:41:09.620 That was the first breasts 0.99

01:41:10.440 I was ever allowed

01:41:11.060 to see a little bit.

01:41:12.840 But thank you so much, man.

01:41:14.300 Absolutely.

01:41:14.780 It was great

01:41:15.240 and remember,

01:41:15.980 I hope it's not the last time

01:41:17.280 that we do it again sometimes.

01:41:19.420 Oh, no.

01:41:19.760 I would love to do this again.

01:41:21.140 That was fun.

01:41:21.860 I really enjoyed

01:41:22.480 the conversation.

01:41:23.280 Oh, one more.

01:41:24.000 Just say something nice

01:41:24.920 about each one of your children

01:41:25.800 so one day

01:41:26.300 they'll be able to see this

01:41:27.500 really fast.

01:41:28.980 Well,

01:41:29.760 I'm proud of all my children.

01:41:31.800 I'm very proud of Catherine

01:41:33.520 who has three kids now herself

01:41:36.620 and who's writing books

01:41:38.660 and she's the greatest mother.

01:41:40.420 She's just like her mother,

01:41:42.460 Maria,

01:41:43.240 that was a really fantastic mother

01:41:44.720 and I'm very proud of her.

01:41:46.460 I'm proud of Christina

01:41:47.340 who is also,

01:41:49.040 you know,

01:41:49.200 into producing

01:41:49.880 and doing,

01:41:50.680 you know,

01:41:51.180 TV shows,

01:41:51.900 documentaries

01:41:52.380 and all that.

01:41:53.600 Here in Los Angeles?

01:41:54.400 Yeah.

01:41:55.200 And then,

01:41:57.060 of course,

01:41:58.320 Patrick Schwarzenegger,

01:42:00.080 you know.

01:42:00.460 Yeah,

01:42:00.620 just saw his new show.

01:42:01.960 So good.

01:42:02.940 He's doing really well.

01:42:03.860 I'm so happy

01:42:04.460 that his acting career

01:42:05.640 is taking off.

01:42:07.100 You know,

01:42:07.260 this is something

01:42:07.660 that he really was

01:42:08.420 very passionate about always.

01:42:10.220 Christopher is doing

01:42:10.920 a great job.

01:42:12.080 I mean,

01:42:12.300 he just lost 150 pounds.

01:42:14.920 No way.

01:42:15.440 Yeah,

01:42:15.640 so he used to weigh 350.

01:42:17.140 He's now down like 210

01:42:18.820 or something like that.

01:42:19.780 Oh,

01:42:20.020 he must be feeling

01:42:20.680 so much healthier,

01:42:21.460 huh?

01:42:22.380 He feels really great.

01:42:23.940 Works at the Gorge gym

01:42:25.040 every day

01:42:26.040 and I know that's

01:42:26.780 I'm really proud of him.

01:42:27.620 You get to see him

01:42:28.140 there sometimes?

01:42:28.920 Yeah,

01:42:29.140 I see him all the time.

01:42:30.000 Oh,

01:42:30.320 that's awesome.

01:42:30.720 And then,

01:42:31.960 you know,

01:42:32.640 Joseph is a fantastic human being

01:42:35.200 and he's into real estate,

01:42:37.600 he's into acting

01:42:38.460 and he's going into training.

01:42:42.000 He works out all the time.

01:42:43.220 So I'm really proud

01:42:43.960 of all of them.

01:42:45.480 Yeah.

01:42:45.900 Well,

01:42:46.180 and none of them

01:42:46.740 is into drugs.

01:42:47.800 None of them

01:42:48.280 is into alcohol

01:42:49.080 and any of these things.

01:42:50.420 So it's really fantastic

01:42:51.460 to see them

01:42:52.760 and even,

01:42:53.660 and I have also

01:42:54.200 a nephew here.

01:42:55.840 I mean,

01:42:56.360 that is really fantastic.

01:42:57.980 Patrick Knapp

01:42:58.660 is his name.

01:42:59.440 Patrick Knapp

01:42:59.720 is his name?

01:43:00.000 Patrick Knapp,

01:43:00.440 exactly.

01:43:01.200 That's Catherine

01:43:02.020 is my entertainment lawyer.

01:43:05.560 I mean,

01:43:05.780 so I brought him over

01:43:06.580 from Australia

01:43:07.200 because my brother

01:43:07.960 passed away.

01:43:08.960 So he's,

01:43:09.880 this is Patrick right there.

01:43:11.220 This is your brother's son?

01:43:12.140 Yes,

01:43:12.360 my brother's son.

01:43:13.120 No way.

01:43:13.520 So he,

01:43:13.960 he was three years old

01:43:15.160 when my brother passed away.

01:43:16.540 And then,

01:43:17.240 so he went to school

01:43:18.040 over there and everything.

01:43:19.160 Then I brought him over

01:43:19.940 to also go to Santa Monica College,

01:43:21.920 go to UCLA,

01:43:23.260 go to Hastings Law School.

01:43:25.200 That's your path,

01:43:25.760 Santa Monica to UCLA.

01:43:26.600 That's right,

01:43:27.000 yeah.

01:43:27.580 Did he,

01:43:27.960 does he remind you

01:43:28.520 of your brother?

01:43:29.680 Oh yeah,

01:43:30.100 yeah.

01:43:30.340 He reminds me a lot

01:43:31.060 of my brother,

01:43:31.640 yeah.

01:43:32.160 That's awesome.

01:43:32.920 I'll bet your brother's

01:43:33.560 super proud of you,

01:43:34.240 man.

01:43:34.440 And thank you so much,

01:43:35.660 Arnold,

01:43:35.780 for just all your contributions

01:43:37.060 and for your time today.

01:43:38.240 My pleasure.

01:43:38.920 Yep,

01:43:39.040 you guys go watch FUBAR.

01:43:40.020 Now I'm just floating on the breeze

01:43:43.420 And I feel I'm falling

01:43:45.020 Like these leaves

01:43:46.360 I must be

01:43:47.460 Cornerstone

01:43:49.660 Oh,

01:43:52.460 but when I reach that ground

01:43:54.260 I'll share this peace of mind

01:43:56.400 I found

01:43:57.080 I can feel it

01:43:58.460 In my bones

01:44:00.580 But it's gonna take

01:44:03.120 And I feel my God

01:44:05.100 And I think of the book

01:44:05.380 That's what I'm writing

01:44:06.860 And I feel like

01:44:07.580 I'm getting

01:44:08.080 I do

01:44:08.820 Maybe

01:44:08.860 All right,

This Past Weekend with Theo Von - June 05, 2025

#587 - Arnold Schwarzenegger

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