Arnold Schwarzenegger once promised to be a “champion of women” when running for the governor of California. His past though, has been far from it. The Terminator actor was once accused of s**ually embarrassing half a dozen women for over three decades! Schwarzenegger admitted to not having the best behavior when filming. However, he seemingly downplayed the accusations while going about his election duties.
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The incident took place back in 2003, just days before the Governor election that he won regardless. Now known as “Gropegate,” the action movie star was accused of behaving improperly and having a s**ual directness towards women who remained silent because of his massive influence at the time.
Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly groped women and asked if certain s**ual acts were performed on them
According to a series of interviews published by the Los Angeles Times, Arnold Schwarzenegger would allegedly touch women inappropriately without their consent. Three women revealed that the action movie star grabbed their breasts. A fourth claimed that he had his hands under her skirt.
One woman claimed that Schwarzenegger had her sit on his lap and asked her if a certain s**xual act had ever been performed on her while another expressed her surprise when he tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator!
Every single one of these alleged allegations took place between 1975 and 2000.
Arnold addressed these allegations during an appearance on the ABC Evening News, where he claimed that he couldn’t remember events that took place 15 to 20 years ago. However, he took some responsibility stating that some of the actions did sound like him.
He then issued an apology of sorts, saying that it was never his intention to hurt anyone. However, he spun the allegations into a politically motivated smear campaign.
“I am sorry, I am sorry about it. Let me tell you something. No one ever came to me in my life and said to me when I did anything. ‘I don’t want you to do that, and you went over the line.’ Now all of the sudden isn’t it odd that three days and four days before the campaign, all of sudden all these women want to have an apology? Isn’t it odd?” Schwarzenegger said.
More women came forward after the allegations
Shortly after Arnold Schwarzenegger issued his apology, three more women came out with their stories. One of them claimed that he undressed in front of her when filming ‘Twins.’
Another woman on the same set said that he had her squeezed between himself and another co-worker while forcefully shoving his tongue in her mouth. A third woman said he groped her behind in a stairwell. Apart from these three, several other women opened up about the harassment they suffered while filming Terminator 2.
A lawsuit filed against him as well by British TV host, Anna Richardson. She claimed that Schwarzenegger had groped her breasts as well during a press event when promoting the sci-fi film, The Sixth Day.
She did not sue him for the incident however, but for libel, claiming that her reputation was tarnished when he denied her claims.
The lawsuit was settled in 2006. Although, no details were ever revealed.
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