Now, she said, as she walked along 19th Street, Schwarzenegger conveyed a sense of urgency: “Come close, it’s very important.” As she drew nearer to his car to hear what he had to say, she recounted, Schwarzenegger “grabbed and squeezed” her left breast. “After the game, he came up to me and said, ‘Now you will come to my apartment.’ He didn’t want to hear no.” The woman said she told him, “It’s not going to happen.” Schwarzenegger later renewed his invitation, she said, when he spotted her playing in a women’s volleyball tournament at Venice Beach. Arnold invited me to his apartment.” She said she declined his invitation. She said she was both a little scared and a little flattered. “We could have a lot of fun in half an hour,” she remembered him saying. On an earlier occasion, she recalled, Schwarzenegger had asked her when she was going on break. She worked as a waitress at Fromin’s deli, she said, a place Schwarzenegger frequented. “Come here,” she recalled Schwarzenegger saying, as he motioned with his finger to the woman, then 22. The woman remembered walking down 19th Street, just off Wilshire Boulevard, when Schwarzenegger spotted her from his car. A former pro beach volleyball player said Schwarzenegger touched her breast on a Santa Monica street. They were interviewed separately by The Times.Īnother incident described to The Times was said to have occurred in 1980. He said he told his wife to stay out of Gold’s Gym. “What he did was uncalled for, but I couldn’t say nothing,” Robinson said, explaining that he feared he’d be ostracized by the bodybuilding world. Robinson said he was upset by what Schwarzenegger had done to his wife, but did not confront him. An African American known as the “Black Prince” during his years on the professional bodybuilding circuit, Robinson has accused Schwarzenegger of racism - a charge that Schwarzenegger’s campaign denies. Robinson has since had a falling out with Schwarzenegger. Universe, said he “tried to comfort her.” “It just completely caught me off guard, and when I finally came to my senses, I immediately went over to Robby and I said, ‘Look, Arnold just groped my breast.’” “I was just shocked, shocked to the point where I almost didn’t know how to react, because it was so out of the blue and so unexpected,” she said. Stockton said she does not rule out that Schwarzenegger “may have meant it in playfulness.” But she did not take it that way. She said Schwarzenegger then walked away without saying a word. “The gym is full of bodybuilders and Arnold comes and he gropes my breast - actually touches my breast with his left hand,” she said. She said she was not wearing a bra.Īs she sat on an exercise bench, Stockton said, Schwarzenegger walked up behind her, reached under her T-shirt and touched her bare left breast. She said she was wearing slacks, tennis shoes and a loose-fitting T-shirt. Laine Stockton, then newly married to professional bodybuilder Robby Robinson, said she had gone to the gym to watch her husband work out. The earliest incident of the six described to The Times was said to have occurred in 1975 at Gold’s Gym near Venice Beach. Schwarzenegger’s conduct toward women also has been widely discussed in Hollywood over the years, notably after a March 2001 article in Premiere magazine called “Arnold the Barbarian.” After the article appeared, a number of Schwarzenegger’s colleagues wrote to the magazine saying that the story was inaccurate and that Schwarzenegger treated women with respect and kindness. In response, Schwarzenegger has said he respects women and that many of his comments were made in jest or simply meant to be provocative. Schwarzenegger’s attitudes about women have been an issue on the campaign trail, where critics have accused him of being misogynistic, based on past statements he has made to various publications. Reporters contacted them in the course of a seven-week examination of Schwarzenegger’s behavior toward women on and off the movie set. And none of the women approached the newspaper on her own. The Times did not learn of any of the six women from Schwarzenegger’s rivals in the recall race. Walsh said Schwarzenegger himself would have no comment. “We believe that this is coming so close before the election, something that discourages good, hard-working, decent people from running for office.” “We believe Democrats and others are using this to try to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign,” Walsh said. He said such allegations are part of an escalating political attack on Schwarzenegger as the recall election approaches. Schwarzenegger’s campaign spokesman, Sean Walsh, said the candidate has not engaged in improper conduct toward women.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |