“He was much more delicate of a person”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Believes His Brother Died as He Couldn’t Handle His Brutal Childhood
Hailing from Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. having won the title of Mr. Universe at the mere age of 20, he went on to win the Mr. Olympia title seven times. He decided to retire from bodybuilding and stepped into the Hollywood entertainment industry with the titular role in the 1970 fantasy-comedy film Hercules in New York.
What many might not know is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the son of Gustav Schwarzenegger who was a member of the Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing. The Total Recall once recounted his childhood experiences and how growing up in an abusive household affected his older brother adversely.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Revealed What His Childhood Was Like
Celebrities often recount what their life was like before they became famous. Most of them reveal how they used to do odd jobs before they landed a proper acting gig or what their life was like at home. Arnold Schwarzenegger stood no exception to this and his childhood was particularly troublesome.
After winning the Mr. Universe title several times, the Around the World in 80 Days star lost his older brother Meinhard Schwarzenegger to a drunk-driving accident in which he died on impact after hitting an electric pole. In a three-part Netflix docuseries called Arnold, Arnold Schwarzenneger said he believed his brother might have developed a drinking habit due to their tough upbringing.
In the first episode of the series named Arnold, the actor talked about what he thought could have caused his brother’s death in 1971, saying:
“The brutality that was at home, the beatings that we got from our parents sometimes — all of this I think he could not sustain. He was much more delicate of a person by nature.”
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Everyone does not have the same tolerance level. Some people are stronger than others. Maybe Meinhard Schwarzenegger was not as strong as his younger brother, and he let his circumstances take hold of him and steer his life in the wrong direction.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Father Was Abusive
Arnold Schwarzenegger did not give up due to the thorns in his way that were thrown by his own father who was allegedly dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder after he came back from World War II. The Terminator actor even said that his father was not the only person in this predicament, nearly every other man who had come back from war to home in Austria was in the same condition.
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Recounting his experience with his father, the Predator actor said:
“There was a kind of schizophrenic behavior that my brother and I witnessed at home. There was the kind father, and other times when my father would come home drunk at three in the morning and he would be screaming. We would wake up and, all of a sudden our hearts were pounding because we knew that meant that he could, at any given time, strike my mother or go crazy. So there was the kind of strange violence.”
Thankfully, Arnold Schwarzenegger was brave and he managed to escape his abusive household. Unfortunately, his brother could not do the same and succumbed to his father’s abuse.
