“Couldn’t Sleep the Whole Night”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Once Faced a Horrific Incident of Natural Calamity as California Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger has multitudes to his personality and career. The former bodybuilder did not stop at excelling in his acting career but rather managed to conquer both his acting and political career after a successful stint at Mr. Olympia. However, being the Governor of California for two terms wasn’t a cakewalk. For a star who was generally popular among the masses, certain aspects of governing proved to be exhausting for the Terminator actor.

In an interview with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Schwarzenegger spoke about his life, movies, family, and his time as the governor. One particular incident during his political career, however, stood out. In one of his biggest challenges as the governor, Schwarzenegger lost sleep trying to mitigate the after-effects of the incident.

Arnold Schwarzenegger once gave up on sleep due to this calamity

California is a state that’s often affected by natural wildfires. While wildfires are known to be a common occurrence in the state, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger too had to undergo grave hardships when one such wildfire calamity broke out in 2007.

Being a representative of the Republican administration, handling the consequences of natural calamities is not an easy task. For Schwarzenegger, this meant calling in cavalry to help the citizens of California. The National Guard, the Federal government, and all other major governing bodies stepped in to help. But for the Terminator, this was nerve-wracking.

Recalling the nightmare unfolding in front of him, Schwarzenegger revealed, “They said there’s 500 fires all over California. And that was like – I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I was up like thinking to myself how do you handle this and what do you do about it?“ With more than 2012 fires overnight, Schwarzenegger had to pull up his socks and deal with the mess.

And Arnold did all that for no salary

The average salary of a Governor at that time was around $187,000. However, Schwarzenegger believed in the power of service and gratitude to the citizens. Before he was elected, he made one of the most significant decisions that he chose to stick with throughout his term.

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Calling it “petty cash”, the Governator gave up his salary as a governor. The reason was simple—he wanted to serve the people and give back to the state. The experience was challenging yet it felt rewarding. And seeing that Schwarzenegger had two consecutively successful terms, it seemed to have made an impact on the citizens as well.

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