I would not have made any of that for
myself so this is why I don't believe in
the self-made man
no you didn't it did a lot of help none
of us can make it alone did you think
maybe that you made it that far by
yourself no he didn't
it took a lot of help none of us can
make it alone
none of us not even me that has been the
Terminator and went back in time to save
the human race
not even me that fought and it killed
predators with spear hands I always tell
people that you can call me anything
that you want you can call me Arnold you
can call me Schwarzenegger you can call
me the Austrian oak you can call me
schwartzie you can call me Ani but don't
ever ever call me a self-made man this
is so important for you to understand I
didn't make it that far my own the whole
concept of the self-made man a woman is
a myth I know you don't say look we read
so many stories about you if you saw
documentaries when you talked about that
you are the model of the American Dream
and that you had the perfect example of
the self-made man let me tell you I have
seen it
read those stories myself it is not the
whole story
I didn't just materialize out of nowhere
like the Terminator threw a fireball and
the streets of Los Angeles I would have
never made it in my life
without the help if I wouldn't have met
a lifeguard at the lake where I grew up
and some body builders that introduced
me to weight training and they taught me
the first chin up and a branch of a tree
by the lake and that eventually
introduced me also to weightlifting Club
locally where the coach has taught me
about powerlifting and weightlifting and
bodybuilding they helped me and they
nurtured me they pushed me and then
eventually I saw a magazine with reg
Park and a cover it said mr. universe
becomes Hercules there was reg Park in a
Hercules pose undercover act bought that
magazine they read the story from the
front to the end cover and let me tell
you something I read exactly how he
trained five hours a day how I became a
champion mr. universe three times and
how I went to America and then he was
discovered and then the movies Hercules
movies or when I read that I found my
vision let me tell you the most
important thing in life is to have
vision to know exactly where you're
going I found my vision that magazine
reg Park came in my blueprint for my
life and five years later after training
five hours a day just like a mint doing
his exercises I became through his help
and his inspiration the youngest mr.
universe ever
and this is what made that Joe Weider
the father of bodybuilding the oh no
vagina food supplement empire edit of
Muscle & Fitness invited me to America
so he was show either they brought me
the American to the greatest country in
the world to give me the opportunity to
train in Gold's Gym and we go get my
little apartment I came up we have been
absolutely nothing
he was his help at twenty dollars in the
pocket and some sweaty clothes in the
gym bag
but let me tell you I had this one
little apartment and then Thanksgiving
the bodybuilders from fortune came to my
apartment and they brought me pillows
dishes silverware off the sink that
didn't have and even a black-and-white
TV in the transistor radio which is
still half the day on my end table next
to my bed the generosity that I saw the
amount of help that I got then again the
America was absolutely explored there so
first hand how generous the American
people are and bending boards Jim there
it was a magical place with all the
champions hist Americas mr. world mr.
universe
everyone was training there power
lifters Olympic champions and so on and
they helped me change from an amateur
champion to a professional champion and
after that they want champion after
championship you severed them
Smithsonian at all
it became the greatest bodybuilder
wartime supporting the the bodybuilding
magazine in 1975 and even when it comes
to show business it was the same thing I
mean I you read the stories that
Schwarzenegger decided from one day to
the next to retire from bodybuilding and
to go and become an actor it in no time
he did Conan the Barbarian and
Terminator and command and so on
what is this true but it is only half of
the story because the reality of it is
with a lot of help of animated first of
all it would have been fun to make it
that easy and to be that easy but it was
very very difficult to get into the
movies very difficult and only because I
had help I could get in because in the
beginning every agent every manager
every studio executive said
he would never become a leading man look
at your body you look like a monster and
eventually even though it was very
difficult it was Dean of the Laurentiis
and Ed Pressman that came to me in Conan
the Barbarian and if they wouldn't have
helped me to get that part I would not
have broken through and become a leading
man if it would have been for Jay Leno
who hosted the Tonight Show who I called
the week before they said I won't
announce my candidacy on your show under
the night show because I want to sell
myself as an outsider because people in
California is sick and tired of the
typical politician so he said the
meaning he was a great friend he says
yes I'm gonna help you with that
and I had announced without anyone
knowing on August 6th on The Tonight
Show my candidacy politics who sit in
the back when I announce my candidacy so
this is the kind of help I gotten from
Ben of course I didn't even have a team
yet people came out of nowhere and they
started helping organizing in the
campaign and been fundraising and with
the communication and all of those
things and that became two months later
the governor of the state of California
but it took a lot of help and I have to
say that this is important to
acknowledge that
that you did all this yourself I didn't
I didn't get a lot of help yes I was
determined yes I never listen to the
naysayers yes I had the great vision
yes at the fire the belly of those
things but I didn't do it bit off the
help this is why I always say thank you
to the people that helped me along the
way
there's 280 people that work on a movie
that make it look great
on the screen so how can I say I'm a
self-made man in the biggest help of
course a couple is from America
and it states if I were to come to pay
me out
I would not have had the success so I
had a lot of the way this is why mr.
you recognize that so this is why it is
important
to recognize and this is why I tell
every step of the way I had help
you
