“Nothing Could Get in His Way”: Headstrong to Create a Less Ordinary Life, Arnold Schwarzenegger Made a Tough Choice About the Woman He Loved in 1975

Arnold Schwarzenegger had a difficult time initially after landing in the US, but his goal was set. He wanted to win as many bodybuilding titles as possible and become the best in the world. When he was just gaining popularity, he started dating a then hostess at Zucky’s Deli. It was the summer of ’69 and their first date was watching the Moon Landing together. They were a strong couple for quite some time until Schwarzenegger’s ambitions got in the way.

At least that’s what Barbara Outland Baker recalls as she started driving away slowly from his life. A Telegraph article from 2003 did a piece on the first known relationship Arnold Schwarzenegger had in the US. Barbara Outland Baker still remembers those days and memories with fondness and appreciation. The article also quotes Schwarzenegger about that relationship from his 1977 memoir ‘Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder’.

How Arnold Schwarzenegger and Barbara Baker slowly grew apart

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Barbara Baker met, went on a date, and fell in love very soon. They dated for a solid 6 years before calling it quits. While Baker thought that she was going to marry Schwarzenegger at the time, it took her a while to get adjusted to the fact and realize that Schwarzenegger was always over to climbing the next peak in his career, and didn’t want to settle down then.

In 2003, Barbara Baker spoke to Oliver Poole of The Telegraph and said, “I was in his shadow and I was feeling very unloved and unappreciated. I just wanted to get married and have children. But he was someone with so much focus, nothing could get in his way”. Baker said that almost in a melancholic manner but with a sense of understanding and realization about the man she once loved.

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Their breakup was exactly around the time Schwarzenegger was making a big career change. He had won the Mr. Olympia for the 6th consecutive time in 1975 and was looking for something new in life to challenge him. Unfortunately, this also meant he pulled the plug on his 6-year-long relationship with Baker.

Baker still remembers every moment with Schwarzenegger very vividly

Barbara Baker had kept all their photographs taken together, from the ones beside the television on the day of the Moon Landing to the final time Schwarzenegger won Mr. Olympia in 1975. He would win one more later in 1980 when he came out of retirement, but Baker was already out of his life by then. In Schwarzenegger’s latest Netflix docuseries ‘Arnold’, Barbara Baker makes an appearance where she talks about the time they met, and what she thought of him. “He was handsome, he was magnetic, he was charismatic, he was just different”, said Baker.

Barbara Baker gave the Telegraph interview in 2003 where she detailed her experience and time spent with Schwarzenegger. 3 years later, she released a book titled ‘Arnold and Me’ about her time spent with Schwarzenegger and every single detail. Later on, Schwarzenegger met Marie Shriver in 1977 and they got married in 1986. At age 75, Schwarzenegger is still going and might even start phase 4 in his life after bodybuilding, acting, and politics. Who knows what else he has up his sleeve?

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