Patrick Schwarzenegger’s stripped-down, wedding-themed photo shoot with his supermodel fiancee Abby Champion has sparked questions this week about when and how the attractive celebrity couple will tie the knot for real.
By the way, the photo shoot was for a new ad for Kim Kardashian’s Skims shapewear brand, and one photo features a nearly nude and very toned Schwarzenegger wearing only a bridal bouquet. The son of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former world-champion bodybuilder, holds the bouquet strategically in front of his genitalia — which he briefly displayed to much fanfare in season 3 of “The White Lotus.”
But just as Schwarzenegger is getting lots of buzz for his nude scenes in the hit HBO series, as well as his performance as brash rich-boy Saxon Ratliff, he also has to be cognizant of the vicious public feuding taking place within the Kennedy side of his family. Given all this drama, people are starting to wonder what impact it could have on Schwarzenegger and Champion’s wedding planning.
“Like, who is going to this wedding?” asked comedian and actor Heather McDonald this week on her “Juicy Scoop” podcast. “Is RFK Jr. going? Will Cheryl Hines be there?”
Over the decades, the Kennedys have tried to portray their ever expanding, extended family as very close and protective of one another and of their legacy as one America’s most famous and powerful political families. But their Democratic family unity has shown serious signs of fracture in the past year, notably due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promotion of anti-vaccine messages and his decision to endorse Donald Trump as president and to join his administration.
Following Trump’s election, Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, and her son Jack Schlossberg, lashed out at RFK Jr. for becoming Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services.
Ahead of RFK Jr’s Senate confirmation, Caroline Kennedy called her cousin a “predator” and “unqualified” to oversee such agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
Schlossberg, her very outspoken son, joined in the growing criticism of RFK Jr. and also targeted his TV star wife, Cheryl Hines, suggesting that her public support of her husband made her complicit in his anti-vaccine messaging. Schlossberg specifically attacked Hines regarding the recent death of an unvaccinated child in Texas due to a measles outbreak, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Hey Cheryl Hines, it’s Jack Schlossberg,” Schlossberg said in a video posted to social media, The Hollywood Reporter said. “We’ve never met, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I need you to call up the family of the child who died of measles, and say sorry. Can you do that for me, babe?”
Schlossberg continued: “Almost every single case of measles is in someone who’s not vaccinated. I think you’re the perfect person to say sorry.”
Schlossberg also went after future groom Patrick Schwarzenegger for not publicly denouncing RFK Jr., according to JustJared.com. Schlossberg was especially aggrieved that Schwarzenegger showed off a 1960 photo of his grandparents, John and Jackie Kennedy, “in a promo” for his TV series “The White Lotus.”
For an interview with InStyle magazine, Schwarzenegger displayed the photo, said it was a gift from his mother, Maria Shriver, and explained it was one of his most prized possessions.
Schlossberg took to the comment section of the InStyle magazine post and tagged his cousin, according to JustJared.com. In an extended rant, he said, “@patrickschwarzenegger now that you’ve invoked your family legacy and president kennedy — do you support RFKJR for HHS secretary ?? Can’t have it both ways !!”
Schlossberg has become known for his inflammatory online presence, which he said he fuels to get people talking about the political and culture issues that he cares about, according to People. He also said in February that he was particularly incensed about RFJ Jr. being put in charge of America’s public health, and he said he wanted to prod some of his cousins, including Patrick Schwarzenegger, to speak out.
To McDonald, Schlossberg, who inherited the “good hair” of his late John F. Kennedy Jr., has become “so (expletive) weird on social media.” She also noted that he “hates” RFK Jr., while he’s also started to be “mean” to Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Given these attacks, McDonald was concerned about what impact they would have on Schwarzenegger and Champion’s wedding. She asked: “Is this guy going to the wedding?”
Perhaps the couple aren’t in a big rush to get married. After all, they’ve been engaged since 2003 and in a relationship since 2015. They would seem to have good reason delaying a decision on whether to invite a volatile Schlossberg to the wedding or to figure out a seating chart that would place Caroline Kennedy and RFK Jr. on opposite sites of the reception hall.
Meanwhile, the couple also might have to deal with drama related to Schwarzenegger’s father, according to McDonald. More than a decade ago, the former California governor admitted that he had an affair with the family’s longtime housekeeper.
The affair led to the end of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s marriage to Maria Shriver. It also produced a secret love child, Joseph Baena. Patrick Schwarzenegger and his three siblings learned in 2011 that they had a half-brother.
Arnold Schwarzenegger publicly welcomed Baena, now 27, as his fifth child and has grown close to him, according to People. The “Terminator” star and Baena have hit the gym together, and he recently posed with Baena and his four other children to celebrate his birthday, as if to suggest that all his children get along.
Still, McDonald was thinking about Baena in regards to Schwarzenegger and Champion’s wedding. She asked: “Will that kid go the wedding? Will he be a groomsman?”
“We need to know. There’s some juice there,” McDonald also said.