Arnold Schwarzenegger admits he once expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler after publicly denying it for years

Arnold Schwarzenegger says he was only pumping up his personality when he made the comment about Hitler during the filming of the 1977 movie 'Pumping Iron.'
His autobiography is titled “Total Recall” — but Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have a selective memory on once expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

He publicly denied it for years, but the “Terminator” star now says in his autobiography that he uttered the comments more than three decades ago.

“I philosophized that only a few men are born to lead, while the rest of humanity is born to follow, and went from that into discussing history’s great conquerors and dictators,” Schwarznegger writes about a discussion with “Pumping Iron” director George Butler. “I admired Hitler’s speaking ability, though not what he did with it.”

Schwarzenegger, 65, said he was only pumping up his personality when he made the comment during the filming of the 1977 movie.

“Coming up with outrageous things to say was easy because I was always thinking them to keep myself entertained,” he writes.

Butler edited his Nazi comments out of the film.

During his 2003 campaign for California governor, Schwarzenegger — whose father was a member of the Nazi party during World War II — denied speaking out in favor of Hitler, a fellow Austrian. But a book proposal by Butler quoted from a “verbatim transcript.”Butler asked Schwarzenegger who his heroes were, and the bodybuilder replied, “I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power.”