Schwarzenegger Endorses Book By Ex-Lover
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LOS ANGELES — To be described as an unfaithful, pot-smoking, self-centered robot two months before seeking re-election is something most politicians would think unhelpful.
But for Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood hard man turned California governor, it is just another chapter in his journey from immigrant bodybuilder to Republican leader of America’s most populous state. The Austrian-born star has again strayed from the political rule book by ignoring the moral majority to contribute a foreword to an ex-girlfriend’s tell-all book.
“Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian Oak” is the self-published memoir of Barbara Outland Baker, who dated the governor for six years.
Rather than issue fervent denials or denounce the book, the star of “The Terminator” even gave Mrs. Outland Baker a three-hour interview for the 325-page book, published this week. He does, however, comment that “sometimes Barbara’s recollection of events differs from my own.”
Mrs. Outland Baker, 58, who teaches writing at a college, met Mr. Schwarzenegger in 1969 while working as a waitress soon after he arrived from Austria.
“For six years, I lived to inhale the essence of Arnold Schwarzenegger,” Mrs. Outland Baker writes, adding that she is still affected by the governor’s persona three decades after their break-up. The book discusses how the young body-builder talked his first serious girlfriend into surrendering her virginity, which she had been saving for marriage, and details their turbulent and passionate love life. She discovered that Mr. Schwarzenegger had been unfaithful only after they parted.
She also documents the governor’s pot-smoking days, his taste for “Mauiwowie cannabis” and use of anabolic steroids, to which he has previously confessed. In one scene in the book, the couple watch the pornographic film “Deep Throat” together. In another, Mr. Schwarzenegger is enraged when he discovers that footage of him bodybuilding has been used without his permission in a gay sex film.
Much was made of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s colorful past during the 2003 campaign that brought him to office, but this time, his wild days of old have not become an issue, and he remains far ahead in the polls.
