Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is a famous Austrian-American actor, film producer, business personality, former bodybuilder, and politician who also served as the 38th governor of California for seven years.
The Terminator star has recently spoken up about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his Nazi father, Gustav, a military fellow who was a wartime Nazi party official. The actor, 75, detailed his early life events in the upcoming Netflix documentary, Arnold, about how he and his brother endured the brutality of his abusive father.
“Our upbringing was very tough. The brutality that would be at home, the beatings that we got from our parents sometimes,” he said.
According to Schwarzenegger, his decorated Nazi soldier father returned to Austria after the war as a ‘broken man’ who made his family’s life miserable.
“He would scream at three in the morning, and we would wake up, and our hearts were pounding because we knew that meant,” the former governor of California recalled. “He could, at any given time, strike my mother or go crazy. So there was this strange violence.”
The True Lies alum described his father as a ‘tyrant’ who would hit his children with a belt when he was angry and wouldn’t spare a chance to smack them on minor mistakes.
He added that after returning to Austria, Gustav became the chief of county police and treated his family like prisoners. He would ensure there was ‘no screwing around’ and give strict punishments.
“He thought he should create discipline in the house… you had to “earn” breakfast,” said Arnold.
The actor also revealed that his mother was a cleanliness freak who would go nuts if things didn’t go her way.
This is not the first time, the Predator star has opened up about his painful childhood and abusive father. In a previous interview with Fortune Magazine in 2014, Schwarzenegger spoke about his traumatic early life events where he suffered abuse at the hands of his schizophrenic father.
“My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door, and so was the kid next door. It was just the way it was,” he said. “Many of the children I’ve seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. Break the will. They didn’t want to create an individual. It was all about conforming.”
“I was one who did not conform and whose will could not be broken. Therefore I became a rebel,” he continued. “Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, “you can’t do this,” I said, “this is not going to be for much longer, because I’m going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody.”‘
So, one day, Arnold managed to escape home and began his journey of becoming a Hollywood superstar. The little boy who endured all the hardships and trauma as a child became a world-famous actor, politician, and professional bodybuilder.
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Source: Fortune Magazine
