Arnold Schwarzenegger claims he nearly died during heart surgery

Arnold Schwarzenegger claims he nearly died during heart surgery
Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened up on his near-death experience while undergoing heart surgery.

The Hollywood icon and former California governor, who was born with a congenital heart defect, has had three open heart surgeries, one of which took place in 2019 before he filmed Terminator: Dark Fate.

In a new YouTube video from The Pump, Arnold shared how complications arose after the valve replacement surgery that he claims meant he could have died. He said that a medical team "opened him up very quickly to save his life" after doctors found unexpected internal bleeding.

"I was really freaking out. I woke up and all of a sudden the doctors were in front of me saying: 'I'm so sorry but it was unlike what we planned. We made a mistake and poked through the heart wall,' and had to open me up very quickly," the actor recalled.

"The bottom line is, you cannot roll the clock back. I was in the middle of a disaster. So now how do I get out of it? You have to shift gears. Collect yourself, shift gears, and say: 'Okay what I need to do now is get out of this hospital.'"

He also spoke about his recovery from the major operation, showing clips of him getting back on his feet and moving which he described as him "looking like an idiot" pacing around the hospital.

Arnold said that filming Dark Fate was what pushed him to get back to fighting fitness as he had to "move around, run around, lift things up, and do the fight scenes".

Since then, his hit series FUBAR has been renewed for a second season by Netflix. He revealed the news at June's Tudum event alongside a blooper reel that showed the actor on set.

Starring Arnold and Monica Barbaro, the comedy follows Luke Brunner (Arnold) and his daughter Emma as they navigate their dysfunctional family dynamic in the wake of finding out they are both secret CIA operatives.