Arnold Schwarzenegger set out from a village outside Graz with no money, no English and no contacts, and achieved almost exactly what he wrote down for himself as a teenager — the physique, the titles, America, the stardom, and eventually a job he had no business getting.

This is the complete story, including the parts that don't fit the poster: the 2005 special election that broke his political premise, the 2003 Los Angeles Times investigation and what he actually said in response, the paternity secret he kept for over a decade, three open-heart surgeries, and what he's doing at seventy-nine.

Not a rise-and-fall story — because the fall never arrived. Something more complicated than that.

What do you think — if that 2003 story had broken today instead of twenty-three years ago, would he ever have become governor? Tell me in the comments.

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