The Austrian-born actor, 76, discussed the dramatic way he kept his son Patrick Schwarzenegger in line as a boy while discussing his parenting style during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday.
“For the way I grew up, I was lenient. But I think for American standards, I was probably strict,” Schwarzenegger, who was on the show to promote his new book Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, confessed to host Jimmy Kimmel.
“My son did not make his bed. He had his nanny make the bed, which was not allowed,” said the Terminator star. “So I came in one time and the bed was made so immaculately that I looked at it and I said, ‘Patrick, did you do that?’ And he said, ‘No, I didn’t.’ So I grabbed the mattress, opened up the doors, and threw it off the balcony down into the swimming pool!”
“It gives an example. So he had to, kind of, drag it up, the mattress and the pillows — I threw everything out there,” he added.
Schwarzenegger has five children: Katherine, 33, Christina, 32, Patrick, 30, and Christopher, 26, shared with ex Maria Shriver, plus Joseph, 26, with Mildred Baena. The actor is also granddad to daughter Katherine’s kids Lyla, 3, and Eloise, 16 months.
Amid the upcoming release of his book, the actor shared in an exclusive interview with with PEOPLE that he instructed his kids to carry out cleaning duties at home, which included making their beds, washing their clothes, and cleaning their bathrooms.
And the consequences have persisted into their adult years! As he told PEOPLE, “Katherine comes over with Lyla and she says, ‘Lyla, I told you already not to put the shoes there. Keep your shoes on or you put them away, but you don’t leave them there by the stand in front of the fireplace because you know what Daddy did? When I left my shoes there twice? The third time, he burned them in front of me and I cried.’ ”
Did he burn her shoes? “Yes, absolutely,” Schwarzenegger said with a grin. “Now she uses the same methods which she cried over and that she complained about.”
In his conversation with PEOPLE, Schwarzenegger also recalled the bed-making incident, which he said occurred when Patrick was 9 and the frustrated dad tossed his son’s mattress out the window.
“I opened up the door to the balcony, picked up the mattress, and threw it down with the bedsheets, the pillows, everything. I said, ‘Don’t ever make someone come in and clean your room, clean your shower, or make your bed,’ ” he said. “I said, ‘Because I taught you how to make the bed.’ ”
Schwarzenegger also recalled contention with Patrick over his long, hot showers, telling his son, “It’s over, no more showers. Five minutes, one shower, and then that’s it and we’re turning it off.”
While the kids had strong reactions to his tactics growing up, the Kindergarten Cop star said over time the stories have become legendary in his family: “Funny enough, those kinds of things are what they bring up all the time with tremendous laughter and tell other people as a joke.”
“It’s the funniest thing when Katherine comes over, she loves bragging to other people about how bossy I was, how tough I was when she grew up, and how she didn’t get away with anything,” Schwarzenegger added.
In other news – Nigerian rapper challenges Nasty C and Cassper Nyovest to a rap battle
Nasty C and Cassper Nyovest are called out by a Nigerian rapper, Chinko Ekun for a rap battle. The Naija star ranted about how good he is on Twitter after some people deprecated his rap skill.
Reacting to this tweet, “Nothing to prove bro, chinko ekun cannot sit on the same seat with nasty c bro,” Chinko said, “Nasty will get tired! I will stand him with English bars for one hour + nonstop and I am not fvcking capping! Y’all don’t even know what I am capable of. Na Naija market de cause all these things.” Read More
