The Six Biggest Bombshells from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Revealing Netflix Docuseries

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'Arnold,' a three-part docuseries, debuts on Netflix June 7

Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't shying away from his personal scandals in a new documentary.

The FUBAR actor, 75, is the subject of a new three-part docuseries on Netflix titled Arnold in which he gets candid about his controversies as well as his triumphs.

"People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures," Schwarzenegger says at one point.

Read on for some of the biggest bombshells from the docuseries, which debuts on Netflix Wednesday, June 7.

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Schwarzenegger recalls violent childhood and the death of brother in drunk driving accident

The Terminator actor reflected on his strained relationship with his late older brother Meinhard, who died in 1971.

Schwarzenegger said he was "stunned" when he returned home from work that year and was informed: "I have bad news. Your brother died in a car accident. He was drunk-driving and he was hitting a telephone pole."

Meinhard was "always the darling of the family," said Schwarzenegger, describing his sibling as "artistic, smart."

"But," he admitted, "I don’t think my brother was ever happy. I think he started drinking because our upbringing was very tough. The brutality that was at home, the beatings that we got from our parents sometimes, all of this he could not sustain. He was much more delicate of a person by nature."

Schwarzenegger said his father was abusive toward his mother, and growing up around the "strange violence" during their childhood had different effects on him and Meinhard.

"The kind of upbringing we had was beneficial for someone like me who was inside very strong and very determined, but my brother is very fragile. The very thing that made me who I am today is the very thing that destroyed him," said the actor.

<p>Netflix</p> Arnold Schwarzenegger in <em>Arnold</em> (2023)

Netflix

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Arnold (2023)

Schwarzenegger's ex-girlfriend remembers "mesmerizing" date with the actor

Barbara Outland, who wrote the 2006 book Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian Oak, is interviewed in the docuseries. She recalls meeting the bodybuilder and watching the 1969 moon landing with him while out on a date.

Outland said she was working at a deli when Schwarzenegger came in and said, "You are so sexy. I need to ask you on a date."

Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger Throwback Photos

She recalled, "He was handsome, charismatic. When he arrived for our date I was watching the moon-landing, so we watched it together. He created laughter everywhere. He was so mesmerizing."

Schwarzenegger said of their relationship, "It was the first time in my life that I celebrated a birthday when Barbara's mother made me a birthday cake. It gave me another way of appreciating the American life and to have a normal life."

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty; Alex Bona/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty; Alex Bona/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Schwarzenegger told future wife Maria Shriver's mom 'your daughter has a really nice ass'

Though Maria Shriver is not interviewed in the doc, Schwarzenegger recalls meeting her in 1977. (They later married in 1986 and share four kids.)

After being asked to appear at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Tennis Tournament, and at a party with many of the Kennedy family beforehand, he was introduced to Shriver.

Her mother Eunice Kennedy Shriver "came up to me and said, 'It's so good to have you here. By the way, this is my daughter Maria Shriver,' " recalled Schwarzenegger. "Then, later on she said, 'My daughter is really fond of you,' and I said, 'Well, your daughter has a really nice ass. I have to tell you that.' "

He admitted in the doc, "What a stupid thing to say. I don't even know why I said it."

The actor added, "I really fell in love with Maria, not because she was a Kennedy but because she had an extraordinary personality. I could see that little rebel in her. I wanted to escape from Austria, she also wanted to escape. That was the beginning of Maria and I."

<p>David Paul Morris/Getty</p> Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver in 2007

David Paul Morris/Getty

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver in 2007

Shriver was not on board with Schwarzenegger's bid for governor

Shriver initially "hated the idea of me running" for California governor, Schwarzenegger said. The actor was eventually sworn in as the 38th governor of California on Nov. 17, 2003.

"I didn’t really know if I was going to run because I didn't really want to run if she was not 100 percent behind it," he said. "I was sitting with her in a jacuzzi, and I said, 'What do you think of me running for governor?' She flipped out. I almost felt like she was hyperventilating."

"She felt I have gone through this with my family. She had a very emotional reaction," he said. "This would drag us through the mud. Therefore, I pulled back. The morning of The Tonight Show, Maria put a note under my door that said in case you decide to run, here’s what I would say and here’s if you decide not to run what I would say. I felt like, okay, Maria for the first time was open to the idea."

Being governor proved to be "very tough on my relationship with Maria and the kids," he later admitted.

Related: Maria Shriver Reveals She Went to a Convent After Arnold Schwarzenegger Split to &#39;Look for Advice&#39;

<p>Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty</p> Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver in 2009

Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver in 2009

Schwarzenegger admitted in couples counseling session that he fathered a child in an affair

The actor got candid about his affair, which he called the "major failure" of his life. Schwarzenegger recounted the moment he admitted to then-wife Maria Shriver that he had a child with their housekeeper Mildred Baena in 1997. (Their son Joseph is now 25.)

"Maria and I went to counseling once a week, and in one of the sessions the counselor said, 'I think today Maria wants to be very specific about something. She wants to know if you are the father of Joseph?' And I was like— I thought my heart stopped and then I told the truth," said Schwarzenegger.

"'Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son.' She was crushed because of that," he said, adding, "I had an affair in ’96. In the beginning I really didn’t know. I just started feeling the older he got the more it became clear to me, and then it was really just a matter of how do you keep this quiet? How do you keep this a secret?"

He later added: "It was wrong what I did. But I don’t want to make Joseph feel that he is not welcomed in this world. Because he is very much welcomed in this world. I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man."

Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver&#39;s Relationship Timeline

Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their separation in May 2011.

Days later, Schwarzenegger publicly apologized for the affair in an interview with The Los Angeles Times: "After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago. I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."

Netflix
Netflix

Schwarzenegger says no 'excuses' for past groping allegations

Days before he was elected governor in 2003, a report from The Los Angeles Times brought claims from multiple women about Schwarzenegger, including allegations of groping.

The story's reporter Carla Hall is interviewed in the documentary, saying, "We found a pattern of behavior that took place over decades."

Schwarzenegger admitted "in the beginning I was defensive," but "today I can look at it and say it doesn't really matter what time it is, if it’s the Muscle Beach days of 40 years ago or today, this was wrong. It was bulls---. Forget all the excuses, it was wrong."

In May, Schwarzenegger, who has addressed the sexual misconduct allegations in the past, told The Hollywood Reporter he "behaved badly."

"We are not perfect. We try to be, but there’s only one that’s perfect — God. My mouth is great, but it gets me into trouble. My brain is great — it has the will to make a better world — but sometimes I f--- up," he told the outlet. "I make mistakes. I behaved badly. All of those things I’ve addressed in the past."

"I feel bad about it. But I cannot roll the clock back. I have to be careful and be wiser," he added. "I’m smarter. I’m more sensitive about other people’s feelings."

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