Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke about his romance with physical therapist Heather Milligan.
He said he fell in love with her around 10 years ago, and that she has helped educate him greatly about various sports through her work with athletes.
Milligan owns a physical therapy clinic that treats many professional athletes.
She met Schwarzenegger in 2012 after he had shoulder surgery in preparation for a movie, when his surgeon recommended her.
They began dating after his therapy was finished.
“I learned the game. I learned the rules and then later on, around 10 years ago, I fell in love with Heather, with my girlfriend, who is a physical therapist, who treats a lot of the football players and boxers and UFC fighters and basketball players,” Schwarzenegger said.
“And she’s really a fanatic about sports, especially about football. So now I’m sitting with her, and she’s explaining if I have any questions. It never stops. This is really what has happened in the last few years.”
Schwarzenegger praised Milligan for being hardworking, independent, and caring, saying she visits her grandmother every night.
He enjoys talking with the athletes she treats.
“We have so many things in common,” Schwarzenegger said in 2023. “I think the world of her. I love that she’s into working. She’s clearly independent. She just is driven as hell.”
“I schmooze with them while they’re getting therapy, because I admire them, they’re great athletes,” he said. “Even though a lot of them make me feel like a little chicken.”
“Every night, she’s with her grandmother on the phone for at least a half an hour,” he said. “I mean, that’s when you get to know a person, the heart they have.”
“And so he says, ‘There’s only one (person), it’s Heather — any athlete, I always send them to her, because she’s the only one that really knows what they’re talking about,’” Schwarzenegger said.
“So I went to her, and then after my therapy was finished, after I was finished with the movie, I called her back and took her out for lunch to say thank you. And then one thing led to the next.”
