Christopher Schwarzenegger says, “It was a big process” to shed the pounds that once held him back from fitting in with his peers. The 27-year-old has been turning heads for a few years since debuting a slimmer body, and the journey is hardly over.
“I started in 2019 when I was living in Australia. I was on this big trip. I made it a big [deal] like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go out and do all this stuff, be in Australia,’ and I just saw how much my weight was prohibiting me from doing the everyday activities,” he said during the Beacher Vitality Happy & Healthy Summit on May 10 in Los Angeles, per People.
“I was like, ‘I want to go skydiving.’ And my friends were like, ‘Yeah, no shot.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I can’t skydive,’” he added. The University of Michigan graduate is the youngest of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver’s four children, who include older siblings Katherine, Christina, and Patrick.
The “Terminator” actor is also dad to son Joseph Baena, whom he fathered during his 25-year marriage, which ended in 2021, with housekeeper Mildred Patricia Baena. His youngest sons were both born in 1997.
Christopher’s vulnerable remarks about his weight struggles included revealing that he “tried everything” before having a significant breakthrough. “I was doing meal delivery things in high school, and I remember feeling like a weirdo when I was bringing weird lunches to school,” he said of the trial-and-error process.
Christopher Schwarzenegger impresses with remarkable weight loss at family Easter gathering. pic.twitter.com/xhOBnEwYZR
— NewsGate (@news__gate) April 21, 2025
To his surprise, the secret to his weight loss had less to do with what he consumed and more so with what he was willing to give up. “I gave up bread for Lent… I’m a good Catholic boy, so I’m not going to break it. And that was my one rule… I lost 30 pounds just through that,” he told the summit attendees.
Not everyone was convinced that the former California governor’s offspring was honest about his tactics that seemed too “far-fetched” to be the truth. A skeptic scoffed, “DUHH! Lose 30 pounds by giving up eating “Bread”? Impossible!”
Similarly, someone else stated, “Sorry not buying it! Unless he was ingesting 14 loaves a day just giving up bread wasn’t going to do it. Maria has always struggled with her weight and he has her gene.”
A third individual opined, “Just admit you’re on Ozempic.” In his remarks about his slim-down, Christopher insisted that “It’s not an overnight thing” and that “even still to this day … when you’re saying, oh, before and after photos … I don’t feel like I’m an after yet. I don’t feel like I’m at the point.”
A fourth person quipped, “Meanwhile the maid’s son is a fitness fanatic and looks just like his father…Do some pushups away from the table pal.” Maria and Arnold’s kids reportedly “don’t love Joe” and have yet to embrace the bodybuilder. The Hollywood veteran, however, has always treated his son “very fairly” and has remained a present parent throughout his life.
