Arnold Schwarzenegger Admits That He “Stepped Over The Line” With Women

More than a decade before the #MeToo movement broke out, Arnold Schwarzenegger was accused of groping and humiliating multiple women. 

In 2003 when the Terminator star was running for governor of California, he denied the allegations which eventually escalated into a political attack against him. 

Looking back at his campaign, Schwarzenegger said, “I stepped over the line several times, and I was the first one to say sorry.”

“I feel bad about it, and I apologize. When I became governor, I wanted to make sure that no one, including me, ever makes this mistake,” Schwarzenegger told Men’s Health. “That’s why we took sexual-harassment courses, to have a clear understanding, from a legal point of view and also from a regular behavior point of view, of what is accepted and what is not.”

Last year, sexual misconduct allegations rose against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which introduced an international conversation about the treatment of women and has led to the downfall of several men with powerful positions across several industries. 

The allegations against Weinstein included stories of harassment and rape from over 80 women over the span of several decades. Weinstein has continued to deny all allegations of nonconsensual sex and has pleaded not guilty to six sex crime charges in New York, including two counts of rape. 

Yesterday, one of Weinstein’s counts of criminal sexual acts in the first degree was dismissed by a New York judge.

Schwarzenegger, who had left the governor’s office in 2011 was not criminally charged in connection with any of the sexual allegations against him. 

The actor told the Men’s Health that he has not changed his views on masculinity.

“I’m a guy,” Schwarzenegger said. “I would not change my view of who I am.” 

”The woman I was originally most in love with was my mother,” Schwarzenegger continued. “I respected her, and she was a fantastic woman, I always had respect for women.”