Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're trying
something ambitious. Mapping a life that seems
almost impossible. just filled with these radical
shifts. We're looking at the source material
on Arnold L. Lois Schwarzenegger. It really is
more than just mapping it out, isn't it? It feels
like we're trying to, well, reverse engineer
this incredible blueprint for ambition he created.
Our mission today is to get under the hood, understand
the core engine, that relentless drive that let
him hit the top in, what, four totally different
worlds? Bodybuilding, acting, business, politics.
Yeah, and when you just look at the basic facts,
it's kind of mind -blowing. Born July 30, 19...
In 1947, Sal, Austria, dual citizen, and the
list of jobs, actor, bodybuilder, businessman,
politician, author. I mean, the immediate thing
you grasp is that, well, the normal way was never
going to cut it for him. That's precisely it.
That's the core idea. We really need to examine
his life in these four distinct acts because,
honestly, each one demanded a total reinvention.
New identity, new skills, new goals, everything.
So, act one. The Austrian oak, literally billing
himself. Then act two, right? The action star
where he had to smash through Hollywood's walls.
Exactly. Then act three. the mogul and this is
key getting rich first and finally act four the
governator turning that global fame into actual
political power okay let's dive straight into
act i then the austrian oak forging a champion
it seems like the whole foundation the entire
blueprint really starts with his childhood yeah
a situation that was so much about fitting in
maybe even trauma that just escaping became the
main driver. Oh, absolutely. That background
is critical. He grows up in Thal, small town,
post -war Austria, strict Catholic family, very
disciplined. His father, Gustav, was the local
police chief. And the historical layer here is,
well, it's significant. Gustav joined the Nazi
party and the SA back in 38, served in the war,
got wounded at Stalingrad. Wow. So you've got
that history plus the really rigid social structure
of Austria recovering from the war. It sounds
like a pressure cooker from day one. He talked
later quite openly about what he flat out called
child abuse, getting hit with belts, hair pulled,
just this constant background fear. But the psychological
stuff with his father seems almost more powerful
as a motivator. Yeah, the sources point to this
really difficult dynamic. The father showed,
quote, strong and blatant favoritism towards
Arnold's older brother, Meinhard. Arnold apparently
felt it was because Gustav suspected he wasn't
his biological son. That's rough. It is. And
that lack of validation, plus that whole post
-war culture demanding everyone just conform,
it just lit this fire under him to become someone
completely different. Success wasn't just desirable.
It was the only way out he could see. seems to
be around age 15. His soccer coach takes the
team to a gym. He sees pictures of guys like
Reg Park, Steve Reeves, bodybuilders. And he
realized this isn't just a sport. This is maybe
an international ticket, something individual,
something that could get him out of Austria.
Precisely. Bodybuilding was like the perfect
rebellion tool for him. It was measurable. You
know, he could control it. Totally different
from the kind of arbitrary rules and emotional
messiness at home. Every single workout, every
bit of muscle he built was a step towards owning
himself. And he just went all in. Chose bodybuilding
over soccer. Boom. Just like that. The dedication
he showed even as a teenager. It's the stuff
of legend. We're talking like breaking into the
local gym when it was closed on weekends just
so you wouldn't miss a workout. Yeah. He said
he felt physically sick if he missed one. And
that laser focus, that obsession with a single
goal. That's the pattern we see again and again
through all four acts. It started paying off
pretty fast, too. One junior Mr. Europe in 1965.
And get this. He was doing his mandatory year
in the Austrian army at the time. Right. And
didn't he go AWOL for that competition? He did.
One AWOL competed. won, and then spent a week
in military prison for it. But as he always framed
it, winning titles like Mr. Universe later on,
that was his ticket to America, he saw the path.
And he cashed that ticket in October 1968. Lands
in the U .S., he's 21, barely speaks English,
and heads straight for the Mecca, Gold's Gym
in Venice, California. He was a sponge, learned
quickly. Just two years later, 1970, he wins
his first Mr. Olympia. He was 23, still the youngest
ever to win it. Eventually racked up seven titles
in total. That puts him tied for second most
all time, only behind Ronnie Coleman and Lee
Haney, who both got eight. But the peak, or maybe
the most talked about moment of his bodybuilding
career, has to be that 1980 Mr. Olympia comeback.
It's still debated today, isn't it? Oh, hugely
controversial. He'd been retired for five years.
But he was training for the movie Conan the Barbarian.
you know running horse riding sword fighting
into amazing shape and basically decided almost
last minute to enter the olympia again secretly
with only what seven weeks of actual contest
prep exactly seven weeks and he won but the decision
just exploded in the bodybuilding world to really
get why you need the lingo conditioning Back
then, conditioning meant muscle density, how
sharp the definition was, no water retention.
A lot of people, including competitors like Mike
Menser, felt Arnold just wasn't there. They thought
his muscle mass was down and his conditioning
looked, well, soft compared to the others. So
the argument was he won basically on his fame,
his aura, the narrative, not purely on the physique
that day. That was the feeling, yeah. The backlash
was intense. Some guys, Menser included, actually
quit competing after that. They felt the judging
was too subjective, too biased towards Schwarzenegger
the star. It's an early sign of him understanding
how to use fame, isn't it? Even in a sport that's
supposed to be all about the physical evidence.
A crucial lesson. The win was less about comparing
biceps and more about him stamping his authority
back onto the sport, reasserting himself as the
icon. Before we move off this phase, we should
probably just touch on the sheer physical presence.
He was listed at 6 foot 2 inches tall. though
people have argued about that height over the
years. Contest weighed around 235 pounds. Chest,
57 inches. Arms, 22 inches. Just massive numbers.
And you can't forget, he wasn't just about looks.
He had serious strength underneath. That powerlifting
background. He won a stone lifting contest in
Munich, lifting a 560 -pound stone off the ground.
That's incredible. His reported lifts, like a
683 -pound deadlift, 520 -pound bench press.
These are serious strengths numbers, not just
bodybuilding stats. And we have to address it,
the ethics question. The sources do confirm he
used anabolic steroids. But it's important context,
right? They were legal back then in 1977 when
he acknowledged it. Right. And his claim was
specific. He used them for muscle maintenance
while dieting down for a show to keep the size
he'd already built, not necessarily to pack on
new muscle during that phase. It was a completely
different landscape regarding performance and
answers then. But yeah, it's part of the story
of how that physique was achieved. It really
speaks to the lengths he'd go to, the sheer will
to build this powerful, nonconformist image,
literally building it from scratch to escape
his past. Precisely. He created the physical
commodity. Okay, so that physical commodity becomes
the launch pad for Act II. The Hollywood star
transcending the accent. He had the body, the
ticket to America. Now, he needed the fame and
fortune ticket, but Hollywood initially just
slammed the door in his face, right? Slammed
it hard. Agents told him point blank, body's
too weird, name's too long, accent's funny. The
feedback was just brutal. You have no chance.
And those first few roles didn't exactly help.
Yeah. Hercules in New York in 1970. A bit of
a mess. They billed him as Arnold Strong. And
his accent was so thick they had... Dub over
all his lines. Yeah, not a great start for someone
driven to be recognized on his own terms. But
there is a glimmer. He actually won a Golden
Globe for New Star of the Year for a film called
Stay Hungry in 70 Sykes. So maybe people saw
something there, some charisma, even if the industry
didn't know what box to put him in. The Game
Changer wasn't an acting coach, though. He was
a documentary crew pumping iron in 1977. That
film just solidified his image, didn't it? Made
him this like philosophical, charming, maybe
a bit cocky, but totally magnetic figure. Way
more than just muscles. Absolutely. Pumping Iron
didn't just show bodybuilding. It launched him
as a global personality. It gave him the leverage
to kind of sidestep the usual gatekeepers who
were hung up on the accent. Suddenly, producers
saw dollar signs attached to that unique charisma
he had. Which led straight to the breakthrough.
Conan the Barbarian in 1982, huge hit, proved
his physical presence alone could carry a big
movie. And then just two years later, lightning
strikes with James Cameron's The Terminator,
1984. That role was genius because it turned
all his supposed weaknesses into strengths. The
physique was essential for the cyborg, the kind
of robotic, minimal emotion delivery. Made the
accent sound intentional, almost cool, not a
liability. I'll be back. Three words. Instantly
iconic. Exactly. That was the signature role.
Launched the catchphrase. Launched multiple sequels.
It just cemented him. And that kicked off the
golden era, right? The 80s and 90s action hero.
Huge blockbusters. Commando. Predator. Total
Recall. True Lies. And we absolutely have to
talk about the rivalry with Sylvester Stallone.
Oh, yeah, it was central. The sources make it
clear they were in this constant one -upmanship
game. Bigger guns, higher body counts on screen,
crazier stunts. Reportedly, they were genuinely
competitive about it. It wasn't just friendly
competition. It was about dominating the action
genre that Arnold, in many ways, had helped define.
But then came the really smart move, the strategic
pivot, comedy. He had to show he could do more.
And the way he did it for twins in 1988 was,
frankly, brilliant from a business perspective.
He took no salary up front. Hold on, let's pause
on that because it's huge. No salary. For a star
of his magnitude, that decision tells you everything
about his business mind, which we'll get into
more next. He didn't just want the part. He structured
the deal to maximize his potential return based
on the film's success. He bet on himself, took
a percentage of the profits instead. And it paid
off massively. It ended up being his biggest
single payday ever up to that point, reportedly
over $40 million. More importantly, it proved
he could open a comedy. It opened the door for
films like Kindergarten Cop, bringing in a whole
new audience, families even. His absolute peak
at the box office probably came with Terminator
2. Judgment Day in 1991. Highest grossing film
of the year. Critics finally started to get it,
didn't they? That his success wasn't accidental.
It was about finding roles that played to his
strengths, his physique, his voice, instead of
fighting against them. Exactly. He found the
formula. There was a brief period where he experimented
a bit, directed an episode of Tales from the
Crypt, a TV movie called Christmas in Connecticut.
But then things started to cool off a bit after
Batman and Robin in 97, which was critically
panned, and he had a back injury around then,
too. And then came Act 4, the biggest interruption
yet. He basically stepped back from leading roles
completely while he was governor of California
from 2003 to 2011. Just did a few cameos here
and there. Right. His proper return to the big
screen didn't happen until after he left office,
came back in 2011, and his first leading role
in about a decade was The Last Stand in 2013.
And since then, she's actually adapted pretty
well to how media has changed. did the escape
plan movies with stallone more terminator stuff
obviously and just recently in 2023 he did his
first ever lead role in a tv series that netflix
action comedy few bar plus the big documentary
about his life arnold he just keeps finding new
ways to stay relevant he really does always finding
the next platform okay let's shift to phase three
the mogul money and the mindset this is the piece
that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle but it's
so fundamental to his whole story The fact that
he was already a millionaire by the time he was
25. This was way before the giant Hollywood paycheck
started rolling in. Yeah, stop right there. A
millionaire by 25. Before Conan, before Terminator.
That just completely changes the narrative, doesn't
it? It tells you his core skill maybe wasn't
lifting weights or delivering one -liners. It
was strategic financial thinking, investment,
business building. He talked about being a prolific
goal setter. Right. Writing down his objectives
on index cards every year. It seems like money
for him was just this clear, measurable sign
of success. And more importantly, the key to
real freedom and control. And he started with
pure sweat equity. His first major business,
launched with his bodybuilding buddy Franco Colombo
back in 68, was a bricklaying company. Not exactly
glamorous work. But talk about timing. Incredible
timing. The business boomed because of all the
rebuilding needed right after the big San Fernando
earthquake in 1971. So they had cash flow from
that. And here's where you see that blueprint
in action again. The constant reinvestment. He
didn't just bank the bricklaying money. They
immediately used those profits to start their
next thing. A mail -order business. Selling fitness
equipment, workout guides, capitalizing directly
on his growing fame in the bodybuilding world.
It's that constant leveling up, rolling profits
into the next bigger venture. That's the signature
move. He took the money from the mail order business,
plus his contest winnings, and plowed it into
his first real estate deal. An apartment building.
Bought for just $10 ,000 down, apparently. Wow.
So why was that apartment building such a smart
first step in real estate? Because it wasn't
just buying property. It was buying an income
stream. He used leverage borrowed money to buy
an asset that immediately started paying him
back through rent. So here he is in his early
20s, basically learning how to be a landlord,
dealing with tenants, fixing things, understanding
debt and equity. That's a hands -on financial
education most Hollywood stars never get. They
just cash the checks. He was building wealth
actively. And that one building grew into a whole
portfolio, right? Commercial properties, residential,
all over. This was generating millions for him
long before he was commanding huge movie salaries.
He was building financial independence brick
by brick, deed by deed. That meant he could negotiate
harder in Hollywood later or walk away. Exactly.
It gave him power. And that independence let
him think bigger picture. Look at the mentors
he cited. It's such a fascinating mix. Milton
Friedman, the hardcore free market economist.
Donald Trump, the real estate guy. Les Wexner,
the retail genius behind Victoria's Secret and
The Limited. And Warren Buffett, the ultimate
value investor. It shows he wasn't tied to one
ideology. He was just hungry for knowledge about
how money works from anyone who'd mastered it.
It definitely fueled that confidence, maybe even
that famous joke he made. Money doesn't make
you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was
just as happy when I had $48 million. It's funny,
but it hints that the process of building it
was the real kick for him, not just having the
pile of cash. And we should mention Planet Hollywood,
too. High profile investment with Stallone and
Bruce Willis. Very 90s. But ultimately, it didn't
last for him. He got out in 2000, said it taught
him a valuable lesson. Knowing when to get out,
recognizing when something's peaked or just not
working anymore is just as crucial as knowing
when to jump in. He's still very much involved
in the fitness world commercially, though. He
owns the Arnold Sports Festival, held every year
in Columbus, Ohio. It's huge, probably the second
biggest bodybuilding event globally after the
Olympia. And estimates of his total net worth
now range anywhere up to maybe $800 million.
It's just a staggering financial success story,
built alongside but also kind of separate from
the Hollywood fame. Completely separate foundation.
Which brings us to phase four, the governator,
politics, and policy. OK, this leap from global
action star to running California, the biggest
state in the U .S. It feels like the most audacious
move of all. But the seeds of his political identity
were actually planted the minute he landed in
America. That's right. He registered as a Republican
way back in 1968, and he was always very clear
why. He connected with what he saw as the Republican
ideals of free enterprise, less government interference,
lower taxes. He said the Democratic platforms
back in the 60s reminded him too much of the
Austrian socialism he felt he'd escaped from,
that bureaucracy, that conformity. So that core
belief in individualism, maybe smaller government,
was there from the start. He started getting
more involved nationally in the late 80s and
then got appointed chairman of the President's
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under
George H .W. Bush. Bush apparently nicknamed
him Conan the Republican. Yeah. And a really
telling early moment was when he introduced Milton
Friedman's TV series Free to Choose back in 1990.
He gave this passionate speech about how individualism
is fundamentally incompatible with socialism
and praised America for letting people chase
their dreams without the government breathing
down your neck. That strong libertarian streak
really defined his political entry point. And
then fast forward to August 2003. The world is
watching The Tonight Show and, boom, he announces
he's running for governor of California. In the
middle of this chaotic recall election targeting
the Democratic governor, the media went nuts.
The governator was born instantly. He had zero
prior elected office experience, none. But that
massive fame, that unique brand he'd built, it
just cut through all the usual political noise.
Then got reelected pretty comfortably in 2006
with almost 56 percent. Served right through
until 2011. And he positioned himself as a moderate
Republican, right? Fiscally conservative, but
more liberal on social issues. The sources seem
to bear that out. He supported gay rights early
on, even officiated a same -sex wedding. But
then, controversially, he vetoed bills that would
have legalized same -sex marriage statewide in
2005 and 2007, pointing to court decisions. And
he also vetoed single -payer health care bills
twice, sticking to that fiscal conservatism.
He definitely shook things up with his style,
too. Remember him calling the Democratic state
legislators girly men? That got huge attention,
building off a Saturday Night Live skit. But
here's where the story gets really interesting
and maybe contradictory. His biggest, most lasting
policy achievements seem to fly directly in the
face of that Milton Friedman small government
ideology he started with. You're talking about
his environmental record. Absolutely. The guy
who champions free markets and rails against
government overreach became one of the biggest
champions of large scale government driven climate
action in the country. The tension there is fascinating.
Like AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006. That was huge. Monumental. It created
the first statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions
in the U .S. Then he followed up with an executive
order demanding an 80 percent cut in emissions
below 1990 levels by 2050. These aren't small
tweaks. These are massive regulatory frameworks
requiring significant government oversight and
intervention. And he wasn't just signing bills,
was he? He became this really visible advocate
for clean energy, famously converted some of
his own Hummers to run on hydrogen and biofuels.
He pushed for the California Hydrogen Highway
Network, signed an order to get hydrogen fueling
stations built. That's a big, expensive, state
-led infrastructure project. And even after leaving
office, he kept at it. Founded R20 Regions of
Climate Action, this global group pushing for
local and regional governments to lead on climate
solutions. It really shows that when a goal,
in this case, tackling climate change became
his priority, he seemed willing to jettison parts
of his earlier ideology. He went for the most
effective tool, even if it meant embracing big
government policies he might have rejected in
theory before. But his time as governor wasn't
all smooth sailing. There were definitely some
major... controversies that the sources highlight.
Two big ones stand out. First, those allegations
of sexual misconduct that surfaced during the
2003 campaign. Six women came forward with claims.
At the time, he gave the sort of qualified apology
for having behaved badly sometimes but denied
many specifics. It wasn't until much later in
2023 that he really addressed it more fully,
publicly admitting he was totally wrong for his
past behavior. It shows a long evolution in his
public accountability on that front. And the
second major one was the commutation scandal
right at the end of his term. Yeah, literally
hours before leaving office. He commuted the
prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter for
Esteban Nunez. Nunez was the son of a very powerful
political ally, Fabian Nunez. Arnold cut the
sentence from 16 years down to seven, calling
the original sentence excessive. The controversy
wasn't just the commutation itself, which governors
can do, but how he did it, right? Exactly. He
didn't inform the victim's family beforehand,
which caused enormous outrage and led to lawsuits.
later looked at it and basically said Schwarzenegger's
action showed an abuse of discretion and was
repugnant. But ultimately, it fell within his
executive powers. Still, it was a really damaging
episode politically and ethically, showed the
complicated nature of political favors, maybe.
And his political voice definitely hasn't faded
since leaving office. He's been very outspoken
recently, condemned white supremacists after
the Charlottesville events in 2016. And after
the January 6th Capitol attack, he released this
really powerful video message, drew on his own
family history with Nazism, compared the rioters
to groups like the Proud Boys, and just... bluntly
called Donald Trump a failed leader, the worst
president ever. He definitely hasn't shied away
from taking strong stances. And of course, we
have to mention the ultimate political ceiling
for him, the U .S. Constitution, because he wasn't
born in the U .S. He can't run for president.
There was that whole amend for Arnold push back
in the day, trying to change the natural born
citizen clause. But that never went anywhere.
Right. The ultimate ambition may be forever out
of reach. Perhaps. OK, let's move into our final
phase. Phase five, personal life, health. and
lasting legacy. This part really brings home
the maybe the personal cost of that kind of relentless,
massive ambition. We have to talk about the end
of his marriage to Maria Shriver after 25 years,
a member of the Kennedy dynasty. Yeah, they separated
in 2011, though the divorce wasn't finalized
until 10 years later in 2021. And the catalyst,
the reason it all fell apart, was the public
revelation that he had fathered a son, Joseph
Benina, more than 14 years earlier. The mother
was Mildred Patricia Bena, who had worked for
their family for a long time. And the timeline
the sources lay out is just incredibly painful
when you think about the family dynamics. Mildred
Baena was pregnant at the exact same time Maria
Shriver was pregnant with her youngest child.
Joseph was born just five days after Christopher,
Shriver's youngest. It's deeply sensitive stuff.
Schwarzenegger himself said it took him seven
or eight years to put it together when Joseph
started to really resemble him. He eventually
told Maria after she confronted him directly.
He's spoken about the regret publicly since then,
saying in 2014 that the mistakes he made that
caused my family pain and split us up were the
things he was least proud of. It's a stark reminder
that huge public triumphs can have devastating
private consequences. We also need to talk about
his health. I mean, given the extreme physical
demands of bodybuilding, maybe it's not surprising
he's faced some challenges. It started with a
heart condition he was born with, right? Yeah,
a congenital issue called a bicuspid aortic valve.
Basically, the valve that controls blood flow
out of the heart only had two flaps, or leaflets,
instead of the normal three. And that led to
some serious surgeries later in life. Quite a
few. He had his first heart valve replacement
back in 1997. Then in 2018, he needed emergency
open heart surgery to replace that failing valve.
And then again in 2020, he had another surgery
for a new aortic valve. So multiple major heart
procedures. Despite all that, he still maintains
this incredibly active lifestyle. It's like that
same discipline he forged as a teenager just
carries through everything. And that physical
discipline seems to have influenced his diet
recently, too, connecting back to his environmental
work. Sources say that as of 2022, he'd been
eating about 80 percent plant based for five
years, citing both his health and the environment
as reasons. Yeah, he's really pushing that message
now. He did that less meat, less heat campaign
trying to get people to cut down on meat to fight
climate change. And he executive produced that
documentary, The Game Changers, in 2018, which
profiles successful athletes who eat plant based
diets using his platform again. When you look
at his legacy, the symbols are everywhere, aren't
they? There's literally a statue of him, eight
feet tall, bronze, hitting that famous twisted
double biceps pose. It stands in Columbus, Ohio,
where he hosts his Arnold Sports Festival every
year. And you can't forget the vehicles. They
almost perfectly capture his contradictions.
He actually shipped his old Austrian Army M47
patent tank over to the U .S. back in the 90s,
paid $20 ,000 for it. Now he uses it for charity
events, crushing things for kids. Hilarious.
At the same time, he was famously the first civilian
to buy a Humvee, the H1 model, pure excess. But
then later he had three of his Hummers custom
converted to run on things like hydrogen, vegetable
oil, biodiesel. It's that blend again. of massive
consumption right alongside the passionate environmentalist.
And the perfect recent anecdote that shows he's
still making headlines just happened early in
2024. He got detained briefly by customs in Munich,
Germany. Right! For what? For not declaring a
fancy Swiss watch an Audemars Piguet. But why
did he have the watch? To auction it off for
his climate initiative. So even when he's caught
up in some minor bureaucratic snag, it ends up
circling back to one of his major life themes
and generates global news. The guy just commands
attention still across all these different chapters
of his life. Okay, so let's try and pull this
all together. This massive, almost unbelievable
life story. We started with this kid from post
-war Austria, driven by a difficult childhood,
who literally built himself into an international
icon through sheer will and... Then used that
physical presence to overcome huge resistance
in Hollywood, becoming a global superstar. But
crucially, before that peak fame, he'd already
mastered business and built serious financial
independence. And then the final act so far,
converting that celebrity wattage into real political
power, becoming governor of California. The real
thread, the genius maybe, wasn't just the ambition
itself. It was his almost uncanny ability to
turn that ambition into a concrete plan, a blueprint.
This is key, his willingness to completely reinvent
himself, his methods, even his core beliefs,
whenever the next big goal required it. Bodybuilding,
acting, politics. They were all just vehicles
for the next conquest. We really saw that tension
in the governator phase, didn't we? The guy who
idolized Milton Friedman's free market ideas
becomes the governor, pushing huge government
-led environmental regulations like the Global
Warming Solutions Act. Exactly. It seems like
achieving the objective, in that case, fighting
climate change in California, mattered more to
him than sticking rigidly to an abstract political
philosophy he'd held earlier. He wasn't trapped
by needing to be consistent. He was driven by
getting the result. And maybe that adaptability,
that willingness to make radical shifts is the
real secret sauce in his blueprint. It certainly
seems like a core element. And that really brings
us to our final thought for you, the listener,
to chew on. When you look at Arnold Schwarzenegger's
incredible multilayered success story. Where
do you think the real key lies? Was it in sticking
to that fierce self -discipline and the consistent
ideology he often talked about early on? Or was
his true superpower actually his willingness
to ditch old philosophies to undergo these radical
transformations, physical, political, personal,
whenever a new, bigger goal demanded a completely
new version of Arnold?