“It Was Your Father Who Exposed Me”: Ex-Wife Maria Shriver Couldn’t Complain About Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Unhealthy Habit Due to a Specific Reason

Arnold Schwarzenegger is known for his larger-than-life movies. But his off-screen persona also reflects an epic lifestyle. Large cigars, big cars, and extremely expensive watches all make up for the aura of the Governator. The Austrian Oak’s fondness for cigars is not unknown to his fans. The Commando actor has been featured on the Cigar Aficionado thrice and is known to introduce the love of cigars to Jimmy Fallon.

The action hero recently opened up about how he got into smoking cigars in a CNN interview with Chris Wallace. The 75-year-old revealed the person responsible for his cigar love on the show, taking the audience back into memory lane with him.

Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals how his love for cigars started

Talking about his love for his extravagant lifestyle, Arnie mentioned, “I always enjoyed it.” He then recollected his first time smoking a cigar. It was Maria Shriver’s father, Sargent Shriver, who first introduced Schwarzenegger to cigars.

“I remember that Maria’s father, Sargent Shriver, he will always take me down to his basement,” Arnold started narrating a snippet from his past. He revealed that the politician would say, “Arnold, I know you don’t smoke, but I mean, but let me expose you to some good Cuban cigars.” However, the elderly cautioned Arnie not to speak about it to anybody.

This eventually led to a long-term habit that the action hero still continues despite his heart surgeries. And his then-wife, Maria Shriver, didn’t stand a chance to complain because Arnie would say, ”Well, it was your father that exposed me the cigar smoking. He made me smoke.” So, his ex-wife never complained about his cigar-smoking habit. However, the former First Lady of California restricted the Governator’s habit of smoking to a Jacuzzi.

Maria Shriver’s restrictions on the True Lies star’s smoking habit

Shriver asked her then-husband to stop smoking cigars inside the house destroying the clean in-house environment, after shifting to a new home at Sun Valley. “You’re certainly not going to smoke cigars up here, are you–not in all this wonderful, fresh, clean air?” So the actor came up with a plan.

He convinced his then-wife that he would enjoy his cigar in the Jacuzzi in seclusion or would smoke outside when he had some company. He also promised that he would never smoke near his children’s rooms or his bedroom.

Read More: “Don’t Smoke This, Don’t Take A Jacuzzi”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Proud Owner of Rare Car, Slammed Questions About His Commitment to Environment in 2017

Despite enduring multiple heart surgeries, the bodybuilding legend was never able to give up on his cigar lifestyle. The 75-year-old still leads a life of fitness that might be helping him to go strong at his age despite his smoking habit.

Watch This Story: Blood Running Down”: Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls the traumatizing horror he unleashed on his 1-year old baby daughter in the past