Health Scare: Arnold Schwarzenegger, 76, Reveals He Received 'Machine Part' Pacemaker After THREE Open-heart Surgeries
Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed that he recently received a pacemaker after undergoing three separate open-heart surgeries, RadarOnline.com has learned – making him a little bit more like his titular Terminator character.
Schwarzenegger, 76, announced that he was fitted for a pacemaker during the latest episode of his Arnold’s Pump Club podcast.
The Terminator star received the pacemaker on Monday, March 18, and was already back on his feet by Friday afternoon.
“Last Monday, I had surgery to become a little bit more of a machine,” Schwarzenegger revealed during his podcast. “I got a pacemaker.”
The action star also discussed the stigma around “medical issues” back in his native Austria and how he decided to share that he received a pacemaker because it gave his fans “courage and hope to deal with their own.”
“I have to tell you, just saying this to all of you goes against so much of my upbringing in Austria, where nobody – ever – talked about medical issues,” he explained on Monday. “Everything related to healthcare was kept to yourself.”
“But I’ve gotten so many messages and emails from people who were born with a bicuspid aortic valve, like me, telling me that talking about my valve replacement surgeries has given them courage and hope to deal with their own,” he continued.
“So, since I know that going against my secretive instinct and being transparent helps people, what choice do I have?”
The Total Recall and True Lies star also insisted that he was “doing great” following his latest surgery and that he was already back on his feet and attending events just four days after being fitted for the “machine part” pacemaker.
“First of all, I want you to know I’m doing great!” Schwarzenegger assured his fans this week. “I had my surgery on Monday, and by Friday, I was already at a big environmental event with my friend and fellow fitness crusader Jane Fonda.”
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“Nobody would ever have thought I started the week with a surgery.”
According to Daily Mail, Schwarzenegger underwent open-heart surgery three times in nearly 30 years before he was fitted for a pacemaker last week.
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He reportedly received elective heart surgery back in 1997 to replace a defective, congenital aortic heart valve, and once again in 2020 to have his aortic valve replaced to go with a new pulmonary valve that he had inserted in April 2018.
Schwarzenegger thanked the doctors and nurses at the Cleveland Clinic where he was fitted for the pacemaker last week, and he revealed that the doctors advised him to receive the pacemaker because “some scar tissue from [his] previous surgery had made [his] heartbeat irregular.”
“I want to thank my whole team at the Cleveland Clinic,” the Terminator star said this week. “All of the doctors and nurses took amazing care of me and made the surgery as painless as possible.”
“They also advised me that it was time to go through with this because some scar tissue from my previous surgery had made my heartbeat irregular,” he explained.