Arnold Schwarzenegger has a new documentary available for those with a Netflix subscription, and it's a must-watch if you're a fan of the actor. In Arnold, we get the full scope of his life, including a bit about the son he had out of an extramarital affair, Joseph Baena. While they weren't as close in his youth, Baena has managed to grow closer with his father in recent years and even developed a bit of his father's gym habits after being overweight in high school.
Joseph Baena appeared as a guest on the UNWAXED podcast and was asked about when his whole fitness journey started. Baena confessed that while he may look like a living statue on his Instagram page, that took a lot of work that started all the way back in high school:
What made me want to start that. I was actually really chubby in high school. Like really overweight. Going from middle school to high school that transition period, no one looks good. I had the braces and was really overweight. But then I got into swimming and then swimming kind of just made me get really cut. I lost so much weight, got down to 165 lbs, which is really light for me, pretty skinny. But then college, gained some of it back –the freshman 15 per usual, classic. The cafeteria food.
Weight gain is something that a lot of people go through. Even the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger. With that said, those who watch Arnold will know The Terminator actor was obsessed with bodybuilding from a very young age and spent more of his teens working out and winning major competitions in the process.
From the jump, people in the bodybuilding world knew Arnold Schwarzenegger was a natural, so maybe that's genetic. Joseph Baena talked about when he first began lifting weights and how his "chubby' past prevented him from ever really wanting to stop:
But then I dunno, I just started lifting weights halfway through college, started seeing progress. I didn’t want to go back to my high school shape because it made me self-conscious. I’ve always been really self-conscious about my body. So that was the main thing… it pushed me to never go back.
Baena was bullied in school back when he was overweight, so it's possible that he associated those feelings with being unhealthy. Of course, Baena is much more popular these days and was even able to do things like wear a Hercules costume while performing on Dancing With The Stars.
Joseph Baena continued to lift weights, and he's now looking like his father did back in his prime. Baena admitted that some of his drive and focus on an active lifestyle versus partying, especially early on, was influenced by his father's opinion due to the nature of their relationship:
I also have to point out that my relationship with my dad, it took a little while for me and him to get really close and I can joke around with him. And talk about anything. Because I grew up with my mom and was just always nervous. I didn’t want him to think bad of me and be like, ‘Oh, like what the heck is this guy doing?’ He’s partying all the time or anything like that.
Joseph Baena is Arnold Schwarzenegger's son, but he is the product of an extramarital affair Schwarzenegger had with Baena's mother, Mildred, who had worked as their housekeeper. Schwarzenegger quietly supported Baena and her son, but Joseph was not publicly aware of who his father was until the news came out publicly around the same time Schwarzenegger's then-wife, Maria Shriver, left him.
All that tis o say that it's understandable that Joseph Baena's dynamic with Arnold Schwarzenegger took some time to develop. Now, he's following in his father's footsteps and even putting in work at Gold's Gym as his old man did:
Joseph Baena has also gotten some Hollywood roles, and while they may not be on the same level as True Lies or The Terminator, we all start somewhere. If he can work at acting the same way he does at the gym, he may just get those roles sooner than later. I'm pulling for him and praying that I can get the motivation he has to stay in the gym!
Arnold is available to watch on Netflix right now. Check it out and learn all about one of Hollywood's most interesting figures and a wee bit about his son Joseph Baena.
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