If you scroll through Joseph Baena’s Instagram you’ll see photos of him at the gym, holding his dance partner on one arm, Dressing up on horseback without a shirt, Explaining how he keeps the arms swole, because Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son is in impeccable shape. You can also watch him on Dancing with the StarsYou would have seen him dancing in his shirtless during the show, just like he did in a Hercules-themed routineBecause he is a bodybuilder. However, this wasn’t always the case, as Baena prepares to take on his first big acting role, he is opening up about how he can relate to the film’s material because before he looked how he does today, he was bullied as a child.
Referring to his movie Bully High is Baena’s first major film role. Maryam is played by Anesha Madhok. She plays a Pakistani student on exchange who is bullied and harassed because she wears a hijab. Baena now speaks out about the subject and his personal experiences with bullying. The actor and bodybuilder told People:
When I was a child, I was bullied at school in elementary, middle and high school. However, I felt outsider in highschool.
He also said that he was overweight since late elementary school and early high school. Baena also explained that it wasn’t just anybody who bullied him, it was those he thought he was closest to.
So, my closest friends were able to tell me that it wasn’t about outsiders or kids I didn’t know. That was the hardest part for me. I had to figure out who I was and what my goals were.
Baena continued to say that he had struggled to define himself and to have the ambition to change his body and weight. He went on to become the president of his high school just like his character in The Movie. Schwarzenegger’s son mentioned that it really wasn’t hard for him to get into character because he had his real-life experience to draw from. He explained that he had different experiences than the main character because she is bullied due to religious prejudice.
The bodybuilder-turned-actor has opened up about not taking his famous father’s last name before, however, this seems like one of the first times he’s opening up about his weight journey. He’s also been open about how his dad, you know Arnold Schwarzenegger, helped him get into bodybuildingIt is possible to exceed it.
Stay tuned to the website if you’re interested in Baena in his first feature. 2022 movie scheduleMore information is available at Bully High.