Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed that he had a pacemaker fitted last week after undergoing previous heart surgeries.
Schwarzenegger, 76, explained he now has a “machine part” just like his Terminator character – and said he would have to take a pause from going to the gym.
Speaking on his podcast Arnold’s Pump Club, released today (March 25), the actor said: ‘Last Monday, I had surgery to become a little bit more of a machine: I got a pacemaker.
“I have to tell you, just saying this to all of you goes against so much of my upbringing in Austria, where nobody — ever — talked about medical issues. Everything related to healthcare was kept to yourself.
“But I’ve gotten so many messages and emails from people who were born with a bicuspid aortic valve, like me, telling me that talking about my valve replacement surgeries has given them courage and hope to deal with their own.
“So, since I know that going against my secretive instinct and being transparent helps people, what choice do I have?”
He also went on to reassure his fans that he was “doing great.”
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“’I had my surgery on Monday, and by Friday, I was already at a big environmental event with my friend and fellow fitness crusader Jane Fonda…’Nobody would ever have thought I started the week with a surgery.
“’I want to thank my whole team at the Cleveland Clinic. All of the doctors and nurses took amazing care of me and made the surgery as painless as possible. They also advised me that it was time to go through with this because some scar tissue from my previous surgery had made my heartbeat irregular.
“It had been like that for a few years, so I stayed in touch with my medical team and visited in person at least once a year to get a full check-up and see how my heart was doing.”
Schwarzanegger had heart surgery in 2021, 2018 and 1997, where he underwent elective heart surgery to replace a defective, congenital aortic heart valve.
He continued: “I can’t do my serious training in the gym for a while…’I could have kept it a secret. But I know that we have more than 750,000 subscribers now and a lot of you are probably dealing with your own health challenges. I want you to know you aren’t alone.
“And if you’re putting something off out of fear, I hope I inspire you to listen to your doctors and take care of yourself.
“This village is a place for us to be open and honest because it’s impossible to be truly positive when you keep everything bottled up. That’s what Arnold’s Pump Club is all about. There are weights that none of us can lift alone.
“But together, we can lift anything — we can lift up the world. You are never alone here.”
Earlier this month, Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito came together to present the award for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards.
The two actors, who have worked together on the movie Twins, explained how they were both villains of Batman in separate films based on the DC superhero. They joked about how their characters were respectively humiliated and ultimately defeated by Batman.
DeVito described how his character, The Penguin, was thrown out of a window by Michael Keaton’s Batman in Batman Returns, before pointing the Beetlejuice star out in the audience.
“He’s here,” said DeVito, pointing to the audience. “There he is! Right here!” as the camera zoomed in on Keaton.
Schwarzenegger chimed in: “You have a lot of nerve to show your face around here, son of a bitch,” while DeVito added: “You are a real beak-breaker,” referring to his avian character.
Keaton, seemingly joining in with the joke, held a hard stare with the presenters before displaying a cocky smirk and doing a beckoning gesture with his hands. The fake feud was met with laughter and applause by the audience in the Dolby Theatre.
Last November, DeVito hinted at a possible reunion on screen with Schwarzenegger, saying that they “should have done” another film together. The Matilda star said: “Arnold and I want to work together. We missed Twins 2 because he became governor – which, he should have done Twins 2 instead of becoming governor.”
In May last year, the actor said: “I’m developing another movie with Danny. He’s so much fun to work with and so talented.”