Can you picture Arnold Schwarzenegger changing a diaper? Katherine Schwarzenegger apparently can’t, because her dad says she wigs out when he gets near her 8-month-old daughter.
Arnold Schwarzenegger feels “fantastic” to be a grandparent. “The only thing is,” Arnold, 73, told Jimmy Kimmel during the Monday (Apr. 26) episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, “it makes me feel old to think, ‘Now I have a grandchild.” The action movie icon became a first-time grandparent when Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt welcomed their daughter Lyla in August 2020. Though Arnold is the father of five kids, Katherine, 31, apparently is nervous to see the T-800 get close to her child. “I did all that when I had kids,” said Arnold, “but I have never changed diapers on Lyla, because I think Katherine is the expert gatekeeper.”
“She – whenever you touch the baby, she says, ‘Oh my god! Oh my god! Don’t hold her like this,’” said Arnold. “I said, ‘Katherine, come on, now. I’ve held enough children in my hands. I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m an expert in that stuff.’ She just freaks out and does it [herself.]” However, Arnold chalks up Katherine’s “mamma bear” mentality to being a first-time mom – “I think it’s natural” – and doesn’t take it personally. Earlier in the interview, he said that he’s “very proud of Katherine and Chris” and that he thinks that they’re “doing really great together as parents.”
“When my kids were growing up, I participated, and it was a lot of fun to do that,” Arnold told Jimmy, indicating that he was involved in the feeding, changing, cleaning, and raising of his children with ex-wife Maria Shriver: Katherine, Christina Schwarzenegger, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Christopher Schwarzenegger. Arnold is also the father of Joseph Baena, the love child of Arnold’s affair with his then-housekeeper, Mildred Baena. Though the infidelity would spell doom for Arnold and Maria’s marriage, the Terminator actor has remained a constant presence in Joseph’s life.
When Katherine gave birth to Lyla, Arnold celebrated how one would expect the seven-time Mr. Olympia and ex-governor of California would. “Arnold smokes a cigar outside their home in celebration of the occasion,” a source close to the family told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. Katherine’s entire clan “stopped by to see the baby,” with Patrick, 27, being “one of the first to drop by and see Lyla.” It seems he was as excited to become an uncle the same way Arnold was to finally be a grandpa.