Arnold Schwarzenegger had a ritual.
The “Austrian Oak” would stare at his naked body in the mirror as if he were a living work of art, a figure to be sculpted to perfection by lifting hundreds of pounds of iron in endless repetition. His goal was to shatter bodybuilding records and then become Hollywood’s biggest action star — and it worked.
Now, decades later, when Schwarzenegger sees his 75-year-old body, what does he like about it? “Nothing!” Schwarzenegger says, smiling yet serious. “My whole life I look at the mirror and see the best-built man, and all of a sudden I see a bunch of crap. It’s terrible! You get these wrinkles under your eyes. You get wrinkles under your pecs. You see the fucking poodle!” The poodle? “Budle,” he corrects. “It’s Austrian for your stomach sticking out. Where the fuck did that come from? It’s not pleasurable. But you cope with it.”
Schwarzenegger says this lounging in a cabana on his 6-acre Brentwood estate with a palm-sized Yorkie named Noodle in his lap. Noodle is one of the action icon’s uniquely sized, Instagram-friendly pets that wander surreally about. There’s a mini-donkey (Lulu — a bit aggressive when being fed cookies), mini-horse (Whiskey — standoffish) and a hulking Alaskan malamute (Dutch — happy and floofy). Schwarzenegger takes a quick call about acquiring a pig to join his menagerie and his assistant generously offers, “You can break the news of the pig.”
Rising above Schwarzenegger’s pool is a taunting reminder of his past — an 8-foot bronze statue of Arnold at his bodybuilding prime. It’s his vision of the ideal male form, achieved and frozen in time, while the man himself ages on.
Despite his years, Schwarzenegger is hitting new levels of productivity. He’s making his series television debut with a Netflix action-comedy, FUBAR, that premieres May 25. A couple of weeks later, Netflix drops a three-part documentary, Arnold, chronicling his life. He has an upcoming self-help book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, and is doing nonstop fitness promotion (his new, self-published daily newsletter has racked up 432,000 subscribers) and elder statesman activism (his viral video about the Ukraine war generated 100 million views).
Below, in a blunt and wide-ranging discussion, the father of five (and a father-in-law to fellow action star Chris Pratt) discusses the future of his Terminator and Conan the Barbarian franchises, his relationship with ex-wife Maria Shriver, life-extension efforts, identity politics, why feelings are overrated (“This country was not built by people feeling good!”) and revisits some of the darkest shadows from his past.
I couldn’t give you an honest evaluation because I don’t analyze myself like that. I never felt like a star. I felt that I’m lucky I’m one of the few to be happy in his professional life and personal life. But I never felt like I was on top of the world — even in my bodybuilding days when I was winning Mr. Olympia. I always was hungry to do more and to do better.