Arnold Schwarzenegger: My mother cried because I had posters of men in my room. She called the doctor

during a recent fan meeting at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, he told the audience that his teenage passion, which led to him winning the Mr. Universe title at the age of 20, was very disturbing to his mother. Because before he began to achieve such significant success, he trained on his own and wallpapered his bedroom with posters of bodybuilders, boxers and other athletes.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mother was afraid that her son was gay

“My mother would always look at the walls in the room and say, ‘All your friends have pictures of girls. What did I do wrong?’ – he told the audience gathered at the David Geffen Theater in Los Angeles during the event “An Evening with Schwarzenegger”. “And then she cried. She stood in front of the wall every day and cried every day. One day she called the doctor,” the actor continued the story of how his mother was afraid that her son might be different from the rest of his peers. The doctor calmed her fears:

He told her it was normal for kids my age. That we idolize strong men and that she shouldn’t worry about that because I’m definitely not gay.

“And that was her biggest fear” – Business Insider event. Schwarzenegger also admitted that he was particularly obsessed with actor Steve Reeves, who starred in the movie “Hercules” (in the 1970s, the same character was also played by Arnold – it was in the movie “Hercules in New York”) and the English bodybuilder Rega Park. They were his idols and he read everything he could find about them and then imitated them faithfully:

When I read that Reg Park trains five hours a day, lifts weights, does 50-60 reps, and lifts 50 tons a day in total, I did the exact same thing. My parents thought there was something wrong with me and I was exaggerating, that I was obsessed and that it was dangerous to my health.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1967 won the Mr. Universe and became its youngest laureate at that time, because he was only 20 years old. A lot of passion led him to a successful acting career, and many years later also a political one. Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in 2003 and served two terms, until 2011. During this time, his approach to the rights of the LGBT+ community has changed significantly. Twice, in 2005 and 2007, he vetoed legislation that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry in California. In 2010, he changed his position and became an ally of marriage equality – he called on the federal court to legalize non-heteronormative marriages. In 2015, when the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case, it expressed open satisfaction that same-sex relationships were legalized in the US.

How to help LGBT teenagers?

LGBT people are exposed to discrimination in all spheres of their lives: at work, at school, at university, at home and in public places. Activists of the Campaign Against Homophobia indicate that more than half of LGBT teenagers in Poland have suicidal thoughts, and over 90 percent. has symptoms of depression – that’s why the support of adults, especially family, is so important to them. They should feel that their parents are on their side. What to do? First, don’t judge. Secondly, openly listen to what the child has to say and accept these experiences. It will be helpful to ask the question: “What do you need from me?”. You can find more information on this subject at Support, knowledge and professional advice can also be obtained from the following organizations:

• Campaign Against Homophobia, a human rights organization
• Trans-fuzja, a foundation working for transgender people,
• Acceptance, association of families and friends of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people,