Arnold Schwarzenegger is happy his son Patrick Schwarzenegger followed in his acting footsteps — but not in the way you think.
The father-son duo discussed Patrick’s notable nude scene from The White Lotus season 3 premiere in their Variety Actors on Actors interview. “I couldn’t believe [it],” Arnold, 77, remarked of his son’s NSFW scene in the Tuesday, June 3, interview. “I said to myself, “I’m watching your show, and I’m watching your butt sticking out there.” And all of a sudden, I see the weenie. [I said,] ‘What is going on here? This is crazy.’”
Arnold soon realized his thoughts were hypocritical, as he has done nude scenes of his own over the years. “Then I said to myself, ‘Well, Arnold, hello. You did the same thing in Conan [the Barbarian] and Terminator, so don’t complain about it,’” he told Patrick, 31. “But it was a shock to me that you were following my footsteps so closely.”
Patrick scored one of his biggest roles to date as Saxon Ratliff on season 3 of The White Lotus, which premiered in February. In addition to his episode 1 nude scene, Saxon made headlines for other shocking moments, including instances of incest with his character’s brother, Lochlan (Sam Nivola).
Viewers loved to hate Saxon, something Arnold said he witnessed firsthand. “Now everyone is coming up to me in the gym and saying, ‘Your son is fantastic.’ Someone else comes up to me and says, ‘I hated your son in the series,’” he quipped. “Hated him? What kind of a compliment is that? They said, ‘He was fantastic, but the character he played was so believable.’”
Patrick, for his part, said that “the biggest learning experience is how much people associate you with your character,” adding, “The first weeks, people came up to me and told me how much they hated me. By the end of it, they came up to me saying how much they felt bad for me. It was a roller coaster.”
Patrick’s mother and Arnold’s ex-wife, Maria Shriver, previously shut down speculation that her son is like the character he played on the HBO series IRL. “Patrick is not like Saxton. I just want to clear that up ‘cause people say, ‘Is Patrick like Saxton?’” she clarified on Today in April. “I’m like, ‘Do you think I would’ve raised a Saxton?’”
Patrick is the eldest son of Arnold and Maria’s four kids, including Katherine, 35, Christina, 33, and Christopher, 27. Arnold also shares his son Joseph, 27, with Mildred Patricia Baena.
Amid his White Lotus success, Patrick has spoken out against claims he got the role of Saxon because of his famous parents. “We talked about this idea of nepotism, but when you grow up and your parents do a specific job, it makes sense that you go and work in that world,” he told Arnold during their Variety interview.
Arnold agreed, noting, “You have never asked me to call a studio or to call an agent. You never asked me for advice when it comes to acting itself. You’re a rare breed, and I’m very, very proud of you.”
Arnold previously supported Patrick at The White Lotus season 3 red carpet premiere earlier this year, and took to Instagram after the show’s debut to share his initial thoughts on Saxon’s nude moment.
“What a show!” he wrote alongside a snap of the pair from the premiere. “I could claim to be surprised to find out he has a nude scene, but what can I say – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
