- Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he looks in the mirror daily and reflects on how his body has aged.
- He told Howard Stern it's "sad" because he's been celebrated for his "supreme body."
Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke candidly about his own aging process and admitted that he's not satisfied with how his body looks.
"I kind of smile because every day I do look in a mirror and I say, 'Yep, you suck. Look at this body. Look at the spectral muscles that used to be firm and perky and really powerful. Now they're just hanging there. I mean, what the hell is going on here?" Schwarzenegger, 76, said on SiriusXM's "The Howard Stern Show" Wednesday.
The world-renowned professional bodybuilder's comments were prompted by Stern mentioning a portion of Schwarzenegger's upcoming book, "Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life," in which he wrote about looking in the mirror and feeling displeased.
"It's sad also because as I said to people, it's one thing to see yourself get older and more and more out of shape, but most of the people have never been in shape, so what does it mean getting out of shape?" the "Terminator" star said. "They've always looked at this shitty body, so therefore it gets shitty as time goes on."
Schwarzenegger said that his circumstances are different because, for years, he was defined by his impeccably muscular physique.
"It's just when you have been hailed for years as this supreme body, and you have the definition and you see the veins coming down your abs and you see veins on top of your chest — you see all this stuff and then now you cut and you roll the clock forward 50 years, and now you're standing there and you don't see that anymore," he explained.
"So that's kind of like, wow, I never, ever thought about that when I was like 30 or 40 years old, that this is going to happen, that one time we're going to look at this body, and it still looks better than a majority of bodies, but I mean, it just sucks," Schwarzenegger added.
The actor said he tries to stay healthy by only eating two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. Schwarzenegger also said that undergoing heart surgery in 1997 at nearly 50 years old was a turning point in how he perceived his body.
"This was the first time where I felt kind of vulnerable," he said, recalling the doctor telling him to avoid heavy weight-lifting and to be more mindful of his breathing when he exercises, so he doesn't put too much stress on his heart valves.
"All of a sudden, there was dialogue like that, life is not anymore the same as when it was like 30 years old or 40 years old, where you could do anything," the actor said.
"Am I upset about it? No, because there's nothing that I can do about it," he said. "I just feel like as those challenges come my way, I take them on, because it's the only choice we have. The bottom line is I'm 76 years old, I'm full of energy, I'm full of enthusiasm."