Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed that he underwent surgery last week to get a pacemaker fitted and is “doing great.”
In Monday’s episode of his podcast “Arnold’s Pump Club,” the Hollywood actor and former California governor said, “Last Monday, I had surgery for a pacemaker and became a little bit more of a machine.”
Schwarzenegger said sharing the news “goes against so much of my upbringing in Austria, where nobody ever talked about medical issues. Everything related to healthcare was kept to yourself.”
However, the 76-year-old, who said he was born with a bicuspid aortic valve – a congenital heart defect – said he has received so many messages from people born with the same health condition “telling me that talking about my valve replacement surgeries has given them courage and hope to deal with their own.”
“Since I know that going against my secretive instinct and being transparent helps people, it only feels right to talk about this,” he added.
In 1997, Schwarzenegger underwent a pulmonic valve replacement, which helps blood flow from the heart to the lungs.
