Schwarzenegger Makes Light of Wild Past

washingtonpost.com
Schwarzenegger Makes Light of Wild Past



Reuters
Thursday, August 28, 2003; 1:08 AM


LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - On the same day that Arnold Schwarzenegger received the endorsement of 20 state Assembly Republicans in his bid to become governor of California, a decades-old interview resurfaced in which the actor copped to a number of titillating high jinks and kinky sexual acts during his years as a bodybuilder.

Just as Schwarzenegger was making the radio talk show rounds Wednesday to clarify his positions on several issues, the interview in the August 1977 issue of Oui magazine appeared on the Smoking Gun Web site, which was linked to via the political/celebrity gossip Web site the Drudge Report.

In the five-page interview with writer Peter Manso, Schwarzenegger admitted to smoking "grass and hash," hanging out with "entertainers, hookers and bar owners" during his early years in Venice, Calif., and participating in a group-sex encounter with a single female and several fellow bodybuilders from Gold's Gym, Schwarzenegger's early stomping ground.

"Having chicks around is the kind of thing that breaks up the intense training," he said, according to the reprint of the interview.

Schwarzenegger brushed off the story, saying only that he had things other than politics on his mind all those years ago.

"I haven't lived my life to be a politician," he said during a radio talk show.

The actor-turned-politico is currently leading the list of Republican candidates competing to replace Gov. Gray Davis in the Oct. 7 recall election. The resurrection of the 26-year-old interview comes at time when Schwarzenegger is taking pains to appeal to the state's conservative Republicans.

Republican strategist Allan Hoffenblum does not believe that the article was a "campaign killer" and downplayed its effect on Schwarzenegger's base.

"This is when he was young, when he had a pretty wild life, and it is something that everyone has been expecting. It is shocking among family-value types, but that is the group that is least likely to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger regardless. It is not shocking to those of us who have known about Schwarzenegger."

"There have been whispers about this for such a long time," Democratic political consultant Kam Kuwata said. "It is obviously awkward because he is trying to get (State Sen. Tom) McClintock to drop out of the race. My suspicion is that it would not sit well with the religious conservatives."

Coincidentally, a new KABC-TV poll shows Schwarzenegger with a wide lead over Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who is considered the lead Democratic candidate to replace Davis should he be recalled. According to the poll, Schwarzenegger has the support of 45% of registered voters, while Bustamante has just 29%.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter


© 2003 Reuters

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