13 Facts You Didn’t Know About Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger has had quite a career. You might call his life living the “American dream.” From bodybuilding to Hollywood to politics, he has got stories tell. You know he was born in Austria, but did you know… 1. Dad Arnold’s father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, was the police chief in Thal, Austria, where Arnold was born. Arnold did not like his father and later skipped his funeral. 2. Dad? Gustav didn’t believe Arnold was his legitimate son, so he favored Arnold’s older brother, Meinhard. Dad was also not nice to Arnold. 3. Coming To America Arnold moved to the United States in 1968. He became a U.S. citizen in 1983. 4. Nephew After his older brother’s accidental death, Arnold cared for his brother’s son, Patrick. He even paid for Patrick’s education and helped him immigrate to the United States. (Patrick is on the left, with his son in the middle, and is on Celebrity Apprentice with Uncle Arnold.) 5. Soccer Or Bodybuilding? Arnold got into weightlifting when his soccer coach took him to the gym. Immediately intrigued, Arnold gave up the ball for the iron. He was 14 years old and began plastering his bedroom walls with images of male bodybuilders. His parents thought he was gay. 6. Chicken Legs He used embarrassment to pump up his calves, the only muscles that stayed flat as the rest blew up. How? He cut all his pants to show off his legs. The ridicule from others fueled his leg routine. (Incidentally, his calves would later measure 20″ around.) 7. Schwarzenneger’s Stunts In Hollywood, Arnold performed many stunts himself. There were no stunt doubles whose bodies even closely resembled Arnold’s. At least not at first. 8. Don’t Stare, Honey During a break in filming the final scenes of The Terminator, Arnold left the set to get lunch. After walking into a restaurant, he realized he was still in makeup, missing an eye, the skin on his cheek, and looking downright scary. 9. Stare, Honey He was the first private citizen in the U.S. to own a Humvee, the four-wheel drive military light truck. 10. President Reagan Ronald Reagan was the first president for whom Arnold was able to vote as an American citizen. Arnold was personally inspired by Reagan, who, like Arnold was a former actor and governor of California. 11. Unscrambled After getting hit by an egg at a political rally, Arnold removed his stained jacket without losing stride and later said that the thrower now owes him bacon because, “You can’t have eggs without bacon.” 12. Dr. Schwarzenegger? In 1996, Arnold’s alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, rewarded his charitable works by giving him an honorable doctorate. In 2009, USC bestowed upon Arnold a similar degree: honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. The following year, Emory added to the list giving him an honorary doctor of laws degree. 13. Governor As governor of California, Arnold declined the annual $175,000 salary. And working as governor, he could not take movie roles (obviously), and this could have amounted to many millions of dollars. As one journalist pointed out, this spared us from Arnold making a sequel to Jingle All The Way.