20 years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger was accused of sexual misconduct. He's finally admitted he was 'wrong'.

Warning: This post mentions sexual misconduct and may cause distress for some readers.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back with a new Netflix documentary Arnold which examines the life of the bodybuilder-turned-Hollywood-star. 

But this also means that the True Lies actor has to confront some of the more controversial moments from his past.

More specifically, the 2003 report from the Los Angeles Times where six women detailed how Arnold Schwarzenegger had touched them in a sexual manner without their consent while working on movie sets, in studio offices, and in other settings.

The stories spanned the preceding three decades with three of the women describing their surprise and discomfort when Schwarzenegger 'grabbed' their breasts, with another recalling the actor reaching under her skirt and gripping her buttocks.

In one particularly harrowing story, another woman said that after groping her, Schwarzenegger had tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator. The final woman said that the Terminator star had pulled her onto his lap and made a crude remark about a sex act.

“Did he rape me? No,” one woman told the LA Times. “Did he humiliate me? You bet he did.”

The report was published at the same time that Schwarzenegger was running for Governor of California. At the time, Schwarzenegger’s campaign spokesperson, Sean Walsh, denied any wrongdoing. “We believe Democrats and others are using this to try to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign,” Walsh said. 

“We believe that this is coming so close before the election, something that discourages good, hard-working, decent people from running for office.”

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But this isn't the first time the Hollywood star had been accused of crimes of this nature. In a 2001 feature for Premiere magazine, another disturbing story surfaced. 

Talk show host Anna Richardson claimed that when the cameras stopped rolling during an interview with the actor, he attempted to check if Anna's breasts were real, so he 'tweaked her nipple,' she claimed.

“I left the room quite shaken,” she said. “What was more upsetting was that his people rushed to protect him and scapegoated me, and not one person came to apologise afterward.”

In response, Schwarzenegger’s team said that Richardson's claims were an “outrageous fabrication,” and she was looking for her “15 minutes of fame.”

Schwarzenegger himself said in archival footage aired in Arnold that the LA Times report "made up" and claimed that he "never grabbed anyone or pulled up their shirt or grabbed their breasts." He continued to defend his actions, saying that being part of "rowdy movie sets" had meant he had "done things which were not right which I thought was playful."

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Now, 20 years on, Schwarzenegger has addressed the allegations again. "My reaction in the beginning, I was kind of defensive," he says in Arnold. 

"Today, I can look at it and kind of say, it doesn't really matter what time it is. If it's the Muscle Beach days or 40 years ago, or today, that this was wrong."

He continued, "It was bullshit... Forget all the excuses, it was wrong."

It's worth remembering that Schwarzenegger did not categorise his actions this way back when he was running for Governor in 2003. One of the Los Angeles Times reporters who broke the original story, Carla Hall, also featured in the documentary. She said she was shocked that back in 2003, the report had virtually no effect on his political aspirations. 

"Personally, I was surprised that it didn't have more of an effect on the election," Hall reflected. "I thought that more people would be offended themselves."

Schwarzenegger was sworn in as Governor of California on 17 November 2003 and he served until 2007.

If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home. 

Feature image: Getty + Mamamia. 

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