MOST parents would recoil in horror at the thought of their son parading totally starkers on a global hit telly show.
But Patrick Schwarzenegger’s dad, Hollywood A-lister Arnie, has been there and done the very same himself.
Arnie, 77, says of his actor son: “I could claim to be surprised he has a nude scene.
“But the apple doesn’t seem to fall far from the tree.”
In 1991 movie Terminator 2, former bodybuilding champ Arnie is seen walking naked into a rough bar and telling a biker: “I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.”
Now, nearly a quarter of a century later, his hunky 31-year-old son is the instant standout star of the third season of HBO comedy drama The White Lotus.
Patrick usually works out at least five times a week but had no time to train before his latest role as Saxon Ratliff because he was busy filming 2024 flick Billy Knight.
So he worked on his physique while filming in Thailand, often starting at 4am.
Patrick says: “If you look at episode one and episode three, side by side, I gained a lot of muscle and size.”
Director Mike White was horrified and told him to cut the weights.
Patrick recalls: “Mike was, like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to stop lifting. You’re getting too big. The continuity doesn’t work’.”
The first series of the show, named for the fictional luxury hotel chain it often brings to hilarious life, gave new legs to veteran American actress Jennifer Coolidge’s career.
Series two, set in Sicily, catapulted Brit actor Leo Woodall to stardom, ahead of his roles in Netflix hit One Day last year, and now Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
Now, the White Lotus of series three is a wellness centre in Thailand where Patrick plays randy hotel guest Saxon.
He travels from America’s Deep South to Thailand with his family — dodgy businessman dad Tim, prescription drug addict mum Victoria, wimp brother Lochlan, and sister Piper, who wants to become a Buddhist.
And episode two, which screens tonight, may reveal more about Saxon’s incestuous intentions toward his brother and sister.
Patrick says of his character: “Saxon is a douche who leads with his penis. He is despicable and outrageous.”
But after just one episode, fans have already decided Saxon is the bad boy they all love.
Patrick, though, reveals he was not told, at first, how often he would have to get his kit off.
He says: “You do the auditions but don’t see the full script so you don’t have all the details — then when you sign on they ask, ‘Are you comfortable with nudity?’
“At the end of the day, this character, from start to finish, is ridiculous and the type of person who absolutely would walk around his room naked without a care in the world.
“He’s the guy who, whenever he sees a girl at the pool, he’s going to flirt with them, whether it’s a mom or a 22-year-old.”
Now engaged to be married to a model, Patrick is the son of former California Governor Arnie and his ex-wife Maria Shriver — a relative of American politics’ Kennedy clan.
Despite the break-up of his parents’ marriage after Arnie admitted fathering a child with the family’s house-maid, Patrick is close to his dad.
They often train together in the gym.
Patrick may not have been a star for long, given his famous dad, but he has been making headlines since briefly dating pop star Miley Cyrus in 2014 and 2015.
Miley ended the relationship because of their conflicting schedules.
It was also rumoured that Taylor Swift, while briefly dating Conor Kennedy in 2012, cheated on him with Patrick, who — through his mum Maria’s connection to the Kennedys — is a cousin of Conor.
Patrick is one of four children from Arnie’s marriage to TV broadcaster Shriver, the niece of ex-US President John F. Kennedy.
His older sister Katherine, a writer, is married to Hollywood star Chris Pratt and his other sister, Christina, worked for Gwyneth Paltrow’s online retail store Gloop.
Although he is Arnie’s son, Patrick started at the bottom in acting and has worked his way up from bit-part comedy roles such as Jock Kid in 2006 film Benchwarmers and Frat Boy in Grown Ups 2 in 2013.
Despite his father being worth more than £400MILLION, while waiting for movie parts and to fund his acting classes Patrick opened his own pizza restaurant in LA — although he sold it recently to concentrate on acting.
In 2022, he played Colin Firth’s party-loving screen son in HBO drama series The Staircase, the real-life story of crime writer Tom Peterson who was accused of killing his wife.
The same year, in Amazon Prime conspiracy thriller The Terminal List, he played a Navy Seal alongside his A-lister brother-in-law Chris Pratt.
But his big break came in 2023 when The White Lotus creator and director Mike White asked him to audition as Saxon for series three.
Patrick says: “I’ve been a massive fan of the show since day one. It was my dream goal.
“It was funny because every time we would watch it, my family would always just say: ‘Why didn’t you audition for this show? Why aren’t you in this? This role would’ve been perfect for you.’
“Finally, when I got the audition, it was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to nail this, I got to get this’.”
The week before it was confirmed he had won the part, he had proposed to his long-time girlfriend, model Abby Champion — and she had said yes.
But then he had to tell her he was off to Thailand for filming.
Patrick says: “I was, like, ‘Eek, sorry — I’m going to be gone for the next seven months, so we’re going to have to push the wedding to next year.”
‘SUPPORTIVE MUM’
But he adds: “It went over great. She’s super-supportive of my work and career, as I am towards her career.”
Patrick was under strict orders to keep the news that he had won the role top-secret.
But his parents — who split up in 2011 after Maria watched her housemaid’s son, Joseph Baena, grow to be the double of her husband — found out by accident.
Patrick and Abby did keep his major screen break under wraps until Maria accused them of “acting weird” at a family gathering.
He says: “They thought Abby was pregnant and they just kept hounding me, hounding me, hounding me.
“I didn’t even tell my dad because I didn’t want him to tell some other person in the industry.
“But his mother, who is a massive White Lotus fan, screamed with joy at the news, and later she travelled to Thailand to visit the show’s set on the island of Ko Samui.
During filming, Patrick became pals with his screen mum Parker Posey and TV dad Jason Isaacs.
He says: “Jason is this ball of energy that cannot sleep and cannot not move.
“It’ll be 2am and he’ll text me, ‘Do you want to play tennis?’
“I’ll see him in the morning and say, ‘Dude, what is wrong with you? I was sleeping.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I didn’t sleep.’ It’s insane.”
Patrick also spent a lot of time with his screen sister Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola who plays his brother Lochlan.
Patrick says: “We hung out as a family so much that [director] Mike came to us three weeks in and he said, ‘You don’t need to hang out just as a family the whole time’.”
Patrick’s proud dad Arnie and mum Maria were on the red carpet for the show’s LA premiere.
Patrick says: “There are people who’ll say I only got this role because of who my dad is.
“They’re not seeing that I’ve had ten years of acting classes, worked on my characters for hours on end — or the hundreds of rejected auditions I’ve been on.
“Of course, it’s frustrating and you can get boxed in and you think at that moment, ‘I wish I didn’t have my last name’.
“But that’s a small moment. I would never trade my life with anyone.
“I’m very fortunate to have the life and family that I have, the parents I have and the lessons and values they’ve instilled in me.”
- The White Lotus series three is on Mondays on Sky Altantic, and streaming service Now.
