The Biggest Revelations from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s New Book: From Making ‘Amends’ to Shock Surgery

Arnold Schwarzenegger just entered a self-help chat. The former bodybuilder-turned-action star and two-term governor of California decided to pour years of questions about how he achieved success into his first self-help book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, out now from Penguin Press. Ahead of the book’s release, Schwarzenegger spoke with PEOPLE about why he made the decision to change the edict he relentlessly heard from his father in his youth — be useful! — in an introduction to how to get unstuck and fulfill your dreams. Be useful” was the expression that motivated me,” the Terminator says the star. He adds: “All I’m trying to do is just try to use my talents and help other people. It’s the simple things that I do that have really helped me get to where I am today.” The book draws lessons from Schwarzenegger’s bodybuilding career (during which he won seven Mr. Olympia titles), five decades in Hollywood, his two terms as governor, his public divorce, and what he’s focused on today at age 76. Here are five big revelations from Schwarzenegger’s first motivational book, Be useful.

‘Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life’ by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Seeks ‘redeem’ in his ‘fourth act’ In his 2023 documentary, Schwarzenegger reluctantly discussed the affair with housekeeper Mildred Baena that broke up his marriage to Maria Shriver.

Arnold Schwarzenegger says his ‘chapter’ with Maria Shriver will ‘go on forever’: I have ‘love for her’ (Exclusive)

IN Be useful, explains why he chose not to focus on the painful period, saying that such repetition feeds the “gossip machine” and brings more pain to his loved ones. “It was a long road to mend those relationships,” writes Schwarzenegger. But he’s willing to share where he found himself after his discovery became public: rock bottom. “I was face down in the mud, in a dark hole, and I had to decide whether it was worth cleaning up and starting a slow climb or just giving up,” he writes. In the years after that, he writes, he tried to “make amends”. Today, he told PEOPLE, his relationship with Shriver is warm and the two try to spend the holidays together with their children. “My chapter with Maria will continue forever,” he told PEOPLE. “Even though it’s a different relationship, there’s no reason for me to feel anything but love for her.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. J. Redmond/WireImage

He had to ‘earn’ his breakfast as a child in Thal, Austria. Growing up in the remote town of Thal, Austria, his father, who had fought with the Nazis in World War II, became a violent alcoholic after the war, hitting Arnold, his brother, and his mother. “My father had a kind of hot-cold shower treatment,” Schwarzenegger told PEOPLE of those early years. “When he was drunk, he was not open about his emotions. He was angry. And when he didn’t – two, three days later, maybe he’d feel guilty and buy us ice cream and take us out, hug and kiss and all that stuff.”

His father also supervised meal times. “I had to do two hundred knee bends every morning just to ‘earn’ my breakfast,” he writes in Be useful. Still, he told PEOPLE, “I will always have fond memories of my dad. And I don’t hold anything against him, simply because he didn’t know any better. He was beaten when he was a child. It was just a tradition.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger on his ‘violent’ father, ‘complicated’ childhood: ‘it could have broken my spirit’ (exclusive extract)

Six-month-old Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Michael Ochs/Getty Archive

Third open-heart surgery was ‘scary’ and unplanned In his book, Schwarzenegger expands on his recent discovery of an unplanned third open-heart surgery. The star shared her recovery from the surgery in her Arnold’s Pump Club newsletter, saying it was intended to be a non-invasive procedure. With a shooting start date of 2019 Terminator 6 looming, he said in the video: “I woke up and all of a sudden the doctors were in front of me saying, ‘I’m so sorry, but it didn’t go as planned’.” His doctors made a mistake that caused internal bleeding and “they had to cut me open very quickly to save my life,” he said. Be useful, Schwarzenegger opened up about receiving news of the surprise surgery, saying he was scared, frustrated and “angry” about the extended recovery time frame, which was far from the several days he expected.

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Instagram

But then he decided to reframe his thinking. Schwarzenegger requested that a tally be started on the wall for his walking exercises with a walker and then a cane, modeled after his weightlifting set counting system as a teenager. He was back home within a week of waking up in the ICU and a month later began lifting slowly in his home gym “with an IV stand next to me and a drainage tube still sticking out of my chest.” Ultimately, the star says he arrived in Budapest to begin shooting the film a month after that, as planned.

Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls tough recovery after ‘disaster’ third open-heart surgery: ‘I was freaked out’

He was in excruciating pain during his second inaugural address as governor of California. Schwarzenegger first became governor of California after winning a recall election in 2003 and was re-elected in 2006. But after breaking his femur in a skiing accident during Christmas 2006, his second inauguration two weeks later was in jeopardy. His team offered to cancel the official ceremony and simply take the oath at his home, but he refused. Schwarzenegger also refused painkillers, fearing he wouldn’t be as coherent in front of his constituents. “I can handle twenty minutes of pain. I can deal with a whole day of pain,” he emphasizes Be useful. Eventually, he appeared on stage – on crutches – before giving a 20-minute speech unaided. Schwarzenegger, a longtime supporter of clean energy efforts, tells PEOPLE that he still identifies as a Republican. “I’m a traditional Republican — Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Nixon, George Bush — these Republicans were great,” he said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks he would make a great president: ‘I have energy’

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

He gave his infamous speech on January 6 in a jacuzzi. In his book, Schwarzenegger talks about how he was overcome with disbelief, anger and sadness after the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and tries to drain those emotions in his jacuzzi. Zvijezda writes that since his childhood he looked at America as “the world’s largest democracy” and that it pained him to see terrible violence and bloodshed. During soaking. began planning what would become a nearly 8-minute speech condemning former President Donald Trump and the deadly riots, comparing the riot to Kristallnacht. “Wednesday was a day of broken glass right here in the United States,” he said in the video, speaking out against “the elected officials who enabled his lies and betrayal.” “They are complicit with those who carried the flag of self-righteous rebellion into the Capitol,” he said at the time. “We need public servants who serve something greater than their own power or their own party.” In his book, Schwarzenegger said he gave the speech “in the hope that by talking directly to the people who are hurting the most, I could help them and maybe they could heal.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger calls Trump ‘worst president ever’, compares Capitol riots to Nazi Germany

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Earlier this year, the star took to social media again to tackle anti-Semitism after visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp, warning in a 12-minute video speech that those on the “path of hate” could end up as “losers” like his Nazi father. “I don’t know the path that brought you here, but I’ve seen enough people throw away their future because of hateful beliefs,” he said in the video. “So I want to talk to you before you find your regrets at the end of that road.” Schwarzenegger told PEOPLE that former neo-Nazis were among those he and his team consulted on crafting effective messages. “They would say, ‘No, I wouldn’t say that, I would say it like this.’ My idea is to communicate well,” Schwarzenegger told PEOPLE. “But even though I’m a communication fanatic, I’m not always the best at it. But I try.”

Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life it’s out now.

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Source: HIS Education