‘Those are real candles!’ Arnold Schwarzenegger shares sweet throwback Christmas photo

‘Those are real candles!’ Arnold Schwarzenegger shares sweet throwback Christmas photo

Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a touching throwback photo of his mother at Christmas to mark the festive season.

The 75-year-old posted the image to his Instagram page, having originally shared it with fans via the newsletter that he launched in March last year.

“I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!” he wrote in the caption. “Here is a shot of my mother by the Christmas tree many years ago that I shared in my new newsletter. Those are real candles hanging on the tree!”

Schwarzenegger has previously explained that his newsletter is a place for him to share “advice, photos and videos” that he would not post to social media.

On Christmas Day, the Terminator star posted a video of himself working out in a Christmas jumper decorated with trees and reindeer.

“Merry Christmas!” he said. “Use that holiday cheer to power up your pumps, and really enjoy that time with your family.”

The week before Christmas, he shared another video that showed him volunteering at the non-profit Hollenbeck Boxing youth and games centre.

“What a joy to donate gifts and hand them out at Hollenbeck Boxing,” Schwarzenegger said. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years now... the best part of this time of year for me is giving back... what do you do to help your community during the holidays?”

In a recent interview, James Cameron said he believed that Schwarzenegger was at the heart of the issue over his clash with Dark Fate director Tim Miller.

The filmmaker behind the first two Terminator films returned to produce the sixth installment in the franchise, which was directed by Tim Miller and released in 2019.

Months after its premiere, Miller vowed to never work with Cameron again, stating: “It has nothing to do with whatever trauma I have from the experience; it’s more that I just don’t want to be in a situation again where I don’t have the control to do what I think is right.”

“I think the problem, and I’m going to wear this one, is that I refused to do it without Arnold,” Cameron admitted to Deadline. “Tim didn’t want Arnold, but I said, ‘Look, I don’t want that. Arnold and I have been friends for 40 years, and I could hear it, and it would go like this: ‘Jim, I can’t believe you’re making a Terminator movie without me.’”

He continued: “It just didn’t mean that much to me to do it, but I said, ‘If you guys could see your way clear to bringing Arnold back and then, you know, I’d be happy to be involved.’”