Some people are “larger than life”. Few men fit this category better than Arnold Schwarzenegger. The man is basically “Chad” from countless internet memes in human form. A mountain of muscle… people expect such a man to be tall. Massive shoulders, booming voice, jawline that’d make a Greek war god seem like a blushing maiden in comparison…
But just because a man is strong and a legendary figure… it doesn’t mean he has to be tall. Like there’s no law that prohibits such a man from being of more or less average height. Schwarzenegger was a bodybuilder since he was a teenager. Decades of lifting weights, abusing anabolic steroids and countless injuries have somewhat lessened his height. In his prime bodybuilding days, he was about 6′1″. Now, in his late seventies, Schwarzenegger is around 5′11″, maybe six feet tall on a good day, fresh out bed.
You’ll see this man hang out with other legends of the action hero genre, and you notice he’s not so far off in terms of height to a man like Stallone, who’s only about 5′9″ or 5′10″. Both men have gotten injured on-set plenty of times. Both men have worked their asses off to get where they are. Both had rough childhoods, both were born in the 1940s, Schwarzenegger in post-war Austria, Stallone the son immigrants from Sicily and Ukraine.
Now have a look, at the hands of these men. Here’s a normal bloke placing his hands in the handprint of Sylvester Stallone. You don’t get hands like that by being a lazy man, and sitting idly by. No, mitts like that belong to men who have lifted iron for decades, who have worked with those hands since their younger years, who handled heavy equipment and suffered pain and who, through blood, sweat and tears, built their careers as Hollywood legends…
…and yeah, it’s fun to poke fun at the height of famous men. “Haha, Schwarzenegger claimed to be 6′2” and he isn’t!” people will say. So what? Sure some of these Hollywood big shots wear lifts in their shoes, and aren’t as tall as they claim to be. Doesn’t make them any less of a legend. Arnold Schwarzenegger, today, is about 5′11″. But inside his heart… dude’s seven feet tall.