Accusations of sexual misconduct against Arnold Schwarzenegger emerged years before the #MeToo movement.
As the Los Angeles Times reminds us, there were six different women who came forward during his 2003 run for the California governor’s seat who claimed Arnold touched them inappropriately and without their consent.
None of the six women who shared their stories with the Los Angeles Times proceeded to file any type of legal action against him. Moreover, four of the six women were not willing to let the media outlet publish their names. These four women did have friends and family members back up their claims that they had spoken of the sexual misconduct long before Arnold got into politics.
According to CNN , the Terminator star admitted to feeling bad about the way he had treated women in his past and apologized for offending anyone but argued most of the allegations against him were not true.
“I don’t remember things that I’ve done or said 20 years ago. I don’t remember things that I’ve done 30 years ago. And I said that many of the things that are in there are not true because that’s not my behavior,” the actor explained.
He added: “And then other things may be true, and in case it is, that’s why I said I want to apologize if I offended anyone, because that was not my intention.”
In celebration of Men’s Health ‘s 30th birthday, the magazine conducted an interview with the iconic bodybuilder to learn more about how he became the man he is today.
Bodybuilder. Actor. Governor. Legend.
Arnold @Schwarzenegger is one of three cover guys for our 30th anniversary issue, which we’re using to honor 30 people who have changed the way we live.
Read our full interview with the Austrian Oak: https://t.co/Bmfbg5Yete pic.twitter.com/JEG5Bw0DmD
— Men’s Health Mag (@MensHealthMag) October 10, 2018
After asking Arnold if he could become the Terminator once more to go back in time and speak to his younger self, the magazine probed a little deeper and asked about the actor’s sexual misconduct accusations in his past. The magazine wanted to know if Arnold would treat women any differently if he could go back in time and do things over.
“Looking back, I stepped over the line several times, and I was the first one to say sorry. I feel bad about it, and I apologize. When I became governor, I wanted to make sure that no one, including me, ever makes this mistake. That’s why we took sexual harassment courses, to have a clear understanding, from a legal point of view and also from a regular-behavior point of view, of what is accepted and what is not,” the 71-year-old actor answered.
It was fantastic to sit down with @LouSchuler for @MensHealthMag ‘s 30th Anniversary cover story to talk about life, success, failure, and the importance of growing, evolving, and staying hungry. Remember: be useful. https://t.co/ALB95O2Ley
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) October 10, 2018
Overall, the actor seemed to own up to the fact that he made mistakes and was quick to apologize to them. He admitted if he could go back in time, he would do things differently in regards to his treatment toward women.