Though his wife had carted away his collection of gold and bronze busts of fallen Russian leaders, the former Republican Governor of California manages to keep that of Lenin.
- April 4, 2011
AceShowbiz - Movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger has been forced to give up his collection of gold and bronze busts of fallen Russian leaders - because his wife Maria Shriver insisted on a clampdown.
The "Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines" star reveals he asked friends in Russian wrestling circles to send him a good bust after the Soviet Union fell in 1991 and statues and billboards featuring the faces of Communism were being destroyed - and the dead leaders kept coming for years afterwards.
Schwarzenegger explains, "They sent me this bust of Lenin but the problem was, they kept sending me more and more statues. I'd put them by the pool at home. Andropov and Chernenko and Brezhnev - all these old guys were around our swimming pool. Maria thought I was crazy: 'Why do we have all these Soviet statues around our swimming pool?' She had them all carted away. But I kept Lenin, since he was the first."
The bust takes pride of place on the former Republican Governor of California's desk in his office at home in Brentwood, California, according to Entertainment Weekly magazine.
