Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Schwarzenegger has emergency surgery
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in stable condition Friday after undergoing heart surgery in Los Angeles, his spokesman Daniel Ketchell told The Washington Post.
Schwarzenegger’s condition was first reported by TMZ, which said the actor and former bodybuilding champion had gone to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a less-invasive catheter valve replacement.
According to the celebrity news site, doctors decided to perform open-heart surgery after Schwarzenegger, 70, developed complications.
Ketchell said Friday that he could only confirm Schwarzenegger was stable after a heart procedure.
Best known in the 1980s and ’90s as a former “Mr. Universe” and for his roles in action movies like “Terminator” and “Total Recall,” Schwarzenegger, a native of Austria, transitioned from Hollywood star to politician when he successfully ran for California governor as a Republican. From 2003 to 2011, he served two terms as governor and was nicknamed “The Governator.”
Since then, he has mixed acting and politics. He was the host of the “New Celebrity Apprentice,” on NBC. And over the past year, Schwarzenegger has emerged as a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump, publicly criticizing, for instance, Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.