Remember a few months ago when Patrick Schwarzenegger waded into the nepo-baby discourse? Well, he’s done it again. For Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Patrick sat down with his father, Arnold Schwarzenegger — former governor of California and famous actor — to speak about auditioning, those White Lotus nude scenes, and of course, nepotism.
During his White Lotus press run, Patrick opened up about how it can be frustrating when his wins are attributed to his super-successful parents. Did I mention his mother is Maria Shriver, best-selling author and niece of John F. Kennedy? Understandable! But for Arnold, it’s not so clear. “To me, the name Schwarzenegger always meant a big plus,” he said. “And then all of a sudden you were talking about [how] it can be an obstacle.”
“There were times earlier in my career where I was wondering, does it make sense to go under some sort of alias? Does it make sense to go under a different name? Should I just use Schwarzenegger?” Patrick explained. “And ultimately, what you’ve done with your last name and what you’ve built is incredible. It took a while for me to get to a point where I was less worried about living in your shadow versus me just wanting to carve my own path and wanting to do it the way I thought I should do it, taking the baby steps and slowly growing my career over 10 years.”
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Either way, Arnold is happy to see his son make a name for himself in the family business. “I’m glad you kept the name, because now I can take credit,” he said. “My son, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! Those are the kind of lines I’m using now.”
It seems as though the tables have turned on who’s nepo-ing who — Arnold said that now, everyone is coming up to him (especially at the gym?) to tell him that his son is “fantastic.” “If you show you have the substance you can get rid of this whole idea of nepotism,” Arnold said. Easy for a Schwarzenegger to say.
