Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son Joseph Baena has said that he doesn’t want to take his famous dad’s name, explaining how ‘it took a little time’ to get to know his dad.
Nowadays, the pair have a good relationship, but Baena told Sly Stallone’s daughters about how the relationship they enjoy today wasn’t easy to forge.
“My relationship with my dad, it took a little while for me and him to get close so I could joke around with him, and talk about anything,” he explained.
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“Because I grew up with my mom, I was always nervous and I didn’t want him to think bad of me.”
Eventually, things significantly improved with the father and son relationship.
Baena went on: “Now it’s like, awesome.
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“Now I’m like so close to my dad and we joke around about everything.
“He always wants to know about the drama, he’s like ‘tell me everything, tell me about the drama, tell me about the girls’”.
Baena, who is in some fine physical shape just like his dad was, admitted to the girls on the UNWAXED Podcast that he doesn’t want to use his famous dad’s name, saying it was the ‘last thing on his mind’.
He added: “I never had the Schwarzenegger name, in general.
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“I think really the thing is that I just haven’t really focused on changing it.
“I’m doing my own thing, I haven’t really thought about it that much.
“I have a last name already, I’m already doing so much and already succeeding and moving forward with my goals – that’s like the last thing on my mind right now.
“I don’t want to put another thing on my plate [with] doing that.”
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The 25-year-old is the biological son of Arnie and his mother Mildred Patricia ‘Patty’ Baena.
Legally, his father is Rogerio Baena, who was married to his mother at the time of his birth.
He only learned that Schwarzenegger was his biological dad at the age of 13, when Arnie’s term as Governor of California concluded and the media revealed the fact.
Schwarzenegger admitted that he and Patty – who was working in his house - had an affair while both were married.
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It caused Arnie’s relationship with his wife Maria Shriver to breakdown, as well as Baena’s relationship with her husband to end as well.
Baena has developed a career for himself outside of the famous surname that he could have, appearing on Dancing with the Stars as well as in a number of films.
On top of that, he has expressed an interest in becoming a real estate agent, and has done fitness modeling and bodybuilding.
Who needs a famous name when you’ve already got a good few career options open to you?
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@joebaenaTopics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Celebrity, TV and Film