Schwarzenegger: I suffered childhood beatings

ACTION hero turned politician Arnold Schwarzenegger has told how he suffered what “would now be called child abuse” at the hands of his father.

In a candid interview the Terminator star said he was beaten by his father, Gustav, - a wartime Nazi party official - to make him "conform".

However, he rebelled against the beatings and dreamed of escaping his home to become rich and famous.

He made a name for himself as a body builder after he arrived in America at the age of 21.

After a career in acting he is now the Governor of California.

Describing his upbringing to Fortune magazine, Schwarzenegger said: "My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door, and so was the kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I've seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality.

"Break the will. They didn't want to create an individual. It was all about conforming."

However, went on, "I was one who did not conform and whose will could not be broken."

Schwarzenegger was elected as Republican Governor of California - the world's fifth largest economy - at the end of the last year when Californians, sick of economic mismanagement, ousted Gray Davis.