Arnold Schwarzenegger Gets Compared to Citizen Kane

There’s a great piece in the September 24 issue of Newsweek about Arnold Schwarzenegger by Laurence Leamer, a biographer whose works include several Kennedy family chronicles and another, in 2005, about the former governor titled Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Much has changed in the intervening seven years, in large part due to a May 2011 LA Times story that broke the news of Schwarzenegger’s love child. Leamer writes that although Schwarzenegger is convinced Maria Shriver’s brothers leaked that news, the siblings vehemently deny it (at the time, TMZ reported some friends of Shriver were responsible). Overall, the author paints a now less than fantastic picture of a man ostracized by his family:

“Arnold is up there by himself in his mansion all alone with his pictures and souvenirs of a career,” says one of his old friends. “He’s like Citizen Kane.”

Schwarzenegger would probably dismiss this “rosenknospe” characterization. But everything he told Leamer during a recent lunch at Caffé Roma in Beverly Hills was off the record. Arnie has his own book coming out October 1 – the autobiography Total Recall – and is saving all his quotes right now for a big 60 Minutes interview scheduled to roll out the night before. Read Leamer’s full essay here.

[Photo of Schwarzenegger at The Expendables 2 premiere: Helga Esteb/Shutterstock.com]