Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals he shares camaraderie with Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘terrible childhood’
Arnold Schwarzenegger could very well relate to the experiences fellow actor Robert Downey Jr. went through in his childhood.
The Terminator alum, 76, talked about the Iron Man actor’s Oscar acceptance speech during a joint interview with fellow action-star Sylvester Stallone in TMZ Presents: Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons.
In the interview that aired on Tuesday Schwarzenegger said he identified with Downey’s speech, which he gave while receiving the award for Best Supporting Actor in March this year.
“I immediately could relate to that,” said Schwarzenegger. “Because he went through trouble and pain — I don’t know exactly the story.”
He continued, “But for him to thank his s----y upbringing means that it motivated him and kept him going into a different direction rather than staying in the s----y upbringing.”
Schwarzenegger shed light on his own troubled upbringing, growing up in Austria with an abusive, alcoholic father, who was a war veteran left “angry” and with “a lot of pain.”
“If I would’ve grown up like some people do with all the love in the world, I would’ve never left home,” he explained. “I would’ve stayed in Austria. It’s not the kind of life that would have made me happy.”
He added, “I think what drove me was I had such a need to create my own world; I had to get out of that misery at home It was a blessing in a way.”