June 07, 2023
Action superstar and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed an interesting confession about how his parents once doubted his sexual identity.
Arnold revealed how his mother once 'freaked out' at the thought that he might be gay because he had pictures of oiled-up bodybuilders on his bedroom wall as a teen.
The Terminator star, 75, opened up about his parents were in opposition to his dreams to become a bodybuilder when growing up in his upcoming Netflix documentary, Arnold.
Arnold recalled growing up in his small town in Thal, Austria when his life path took shape after he saw famed bodybuilder Reg Park play Hercules in a series of movies in the 1960s.
'I was so amazed by this body, I just could not get it out of my mind,' the Twins star explained.
Reg was an English bodybuilder and actor who was named Mr. Britain in 1949. He then won the Mr. Universe in 1951, 1958, and 1965, while he also starred in five films, four of which he featured as Hercules.
Arnold quickly began to train like a British fitness star as he explained: 'This guy is my idol. He was my blueprint for where I wanted to go in life.'
This caused concern for his mother who soon started to fear that her son was not attracted to women.
'My mother got freaked out. She said, " My son doesn’t have one girl up here. Look at that. It’s only naked men, oiled-up. Where did we go wrong?"' Arnold laughed in recollection.
Elsewhere, his extremely strict and traditional father was also unimpressed by his son's obsession with weight lifting because it wasn't 'the typical thing'.
Arnold recalled: 'My dad was like, "You are looking in the mirror when you train, what is that all about? You are too into yourself... If you want to use your muscles, go chop wood."