Arnold Schwarzenegger has never been one to shy away from big questions. Known worldwide as a bodybuilding legend, Hollywood superstar, and former governor of California. Schwarzenegger has spent decades reflecting on strength, discipline, success, and purpose. In a recent, deeply personal conversation with his longtime friend and fellow actor Danny DeVito for Interview Magazine. Schwarzenegger turned his attention to one of humanity’s most profound and uncomfortable…Arnold Schwarzenegger has never been one to shy away from big questions. Known worldwide as a bodybuilding legend, Hollywood superstar, and former governor of California.Schwarzenegger has spent decades reflecting on strength, discipline, success, and purpose. In a recent, deeply personal conversation with his longtime friend and fellow actor Danny DeVito for Interview Magazine.

Schwarzenegger turned his attention to one of humanity’s most profound and uncomfortable topics: what happens after we die.

Rather than offering comforting reassurances or traditional spiritual explanations, Schwarzenegger spoke with striking honesty and realism.His perspective challenged widely held beliefs about the afterlife and revealed a deeply human fear—not of death itself, but of losing the richness and beauty of life.

A Frank View on the Afterlife

During the interview, Schwarzenegger made it clear that he is not convinced by the idea of heaven or a traditional afterlife. He described such concepts as comforting fantasies rather than proven realities.Reflecting on a past conversation with radio host Howard Stern, Schwarzenegger recalled being asked what happens to people when they die.

His answer was blunt and unwavering: from his point of view, nothing physical remains beyond the grave. The body, as we know it, returns to the earth. Anyone who claims absolute certainty about something beyond that, he suggested, is speaking without real evidence.

While his words may sound harsh to some, Schwarzenegger was careful to distinguish between what is known and what remains a mystery. He openly admitted that he is not an expert on the soul, spirituality, or metaphysical ideas.
What he does know, he explained, is that the physical presence we recognize—the way we see, touch, and interact with one another—will not exist in the same way after death.

Danny DeVito’s Grounded Response

Danny DeVito, Schwarzenegger’s close friend and frequent collaborator, echoed this grounded perspective with a simple and sobering observation: “We deteriorate.”