Arnold Schwarzenegger, 76, Got a Pacemaker

Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he recently underwent surgery to have a pacemaker implanted.

The actor and former California governor, 76, announced on his Arnold’s Pump Club podcast that he’s recovering from the procedure after previously having three open-heart surgeries.

“Last Monday, I had surgery to become a little bit more of a machine: I got a pacemaker,” he shared.

“First of all, I want you to know I’m doing great! 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,” he continued. “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,” he added. 

Schwarzenegger had two surgeries in 1997 to replace his pulmonic valve and aortic valve, which would last 12 to 15 years. He went in for surgery to get both replaced again in 2018 and 2020. He explained that scar tissue from his last surgery caused him to have an irregular heartbeat and he was told to monitor it closely.

“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,” he said. “That’s life with a genetic heart issue. But you won’t hear me complaining.”

The Terminator star said he’s only here because he was “very diligent about staying in touch with my doctors and listening to them,” noting that his mother died in 1998 after not getting the valve replacement surgery she needed.

“I went in for my normal checkup at the beginning of March on my way to the Arnold Sports Festival, and they did a full series of tests,” he said on the show. 

Schwarzenegger’s doctor later told him that based on his results, he needed to get the pacemaker as soon as possible, especially if he wanted to be healthy enough to film season 2 of FUBAR six weeks later.

“I told them I’d stop in Cleveland on my way home from the UK, and we’d do it. Monday, I went under and got my new machine part installed,” he said. “Like I said, by Friday, I was out doing my normal environmental work, and nobody knew anything.” 

“I can’t do my serious training in the gym for a while, but I will be 100% ready for FUBAR next month!” he boasted.

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Schwarzenegger admitted that sharing details about his health publicly “goes against so much of my upbringing in Austria.” 

However, he said he wanted to be transparent after receiving so many messages from fans who said him revealing his past heart surgeries helped them get through their own health battles.

“I could have kept it a secret. But I know that we have more than 750,000 subscribers now — the village is a city now — and a lot of you are probably dealing with your own health challenges,” he said. “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,” Schwarzenegger added. “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.”