Jesse Ventura: Full Interview

so I wanted to start off um by you know it's kind of fascinating all the different careers you've had whether it be your time as a Navy SEAL a professional wrestler uh actor broadcaster I've had so many different successful careers I want to take you back to your time as a Navy SEAL your parents both served but interestingly they weren't I don't believe initially fond of the idea of you no my father skipping college no my father he had six my mother and father I have a rarity they're both World War II veterans my mother served as a nurse in North Africa and my father had six bronze Battle Stars he served in North Africa he served in Normandy the Battle of the Bulge on uh ramagan bridge anzio in Berlin all of them and my father was his anti-war as you would find and so my father's only advice to me was this he said look if you got to go in the service and he was biased because he was in the Army he said join the Air Force or the Navy because he said they'll at least teach you something that you can use but my dad didn't literally realize I would become brown Water Navy which essentially I'll put it this way when I got out I could go on a Year's unemployment when I went to the unemployment office they asked me what I was qualified to do and my buddies told me how to answer who got out before me when they ask you what you're qualified to do as a Navy SEAL or frog man it's I'm I'm qualified for diving Demolition and parachuting so what kind of Civilian job are you going to get right hand me my unemployment check [Laughter] how would you best explain what SEAL training entailed it's difficult it's not for everyone uh 300 kids were in the room in boot camp when they gave us the screen test probably 30 stayed to take it out of the 300 that were originally in the room in the 30 that took the screen test to qualify only four of us passed four out of 300 then when you get to training you've got all guys that have passed that screen test your average class will start with about 100 to 125 guys and you'll probably graduate at about 25 well so it has a 75 to 80 percent attrition rate so it's not for everyone and it doesn't make you a hero making it it's just a certain job that you're highly qualified to do what made the training worse than you were even expecting going into it all of it as a whole because during the entire time you're there you're not allowed to walk what do you mean you have to run you run to run you run to Chow you run everywhere you go walking's not allowed during the training cycle of the day so imagine how far you actually do run and I swimming was my strong point uh in training I always look forward to the swims because as a former competitive swimmer I was one of the best in the class I wasn't as good on runs and I wasn't as good on the old course because I'm tall uh shorter guys and Gymnastic type guys do better on the old course but in the end it's just all around can you do it truly what makes it tough you're a triathlete that's the best way to describe it plush harassment you're harassed by the instructors constantly they try to make you quit I know this is an insignificant story but what happens shortly after you enlist when you admit to having blisters on your hands oh no no that was the first day I ran the old course I didn't get any pre-training I got there on Friday and class started Monday and my hands weren't toughened and so when I ran the old course normally you do it in about 10 minutes when you get good at it that day it took me 45 the first day of training and I ended up at the end of the day with about four big flapping blisters on my hands because they weren't toughened I just come from a school you know I I hadn't had I'd never run the old course before where some guys got there a month ahead of time and we got to practice on and toughen up for it and that day we at the end of the day Terry Moy instructor Moy who's a good friend of mine today were close friends he was my first phase instructor the most terrifying man I'd ever met on the Earth and he came out with a table and a first aid kit and he looked at all this says okay which one of you pukes as Flappers and I looked at my hands and thought God I need medical attention and I made the mistake I raised my hand something you don't do don't bring any attention to yourself you learn that I learned mine that day so he called me in front of the class and said let me see and I held him on show you you got Flappers then he said are you right-handed or left-handed and I said I'm right-handed he said okay hold your right hand out so I held my right hand out and I thought he was going to take mercuricome alcohol whatever I figured I needed it he grabbed every flapper and ripped him off so I'm standing now with tears running down my face no nothing hurt that bad in my life then he made me turn to the class and he said okay now you do the other hand so I had to stand in front of the class and rip off my own Flappers and then he looked at me says now get back in line you big dummy what did I learn from that don't bring any attention to yourself blend in do not allow the instructors to focus on you they will at some point everybody but don't bring it on unneeded how would you explain the influence Muhammad Ali had on you he had probably one of the greatest and earliest influences on me because my father had boxed a little as a kid my grandfather ended that he said you're not going to be a boxer but my dad was pretty tough guy and in the day when they'd have a world title fight it was only on the radio so my dad would come up to my brother and I's room and the three of us would gather around the radio to hear the blow by blow of who whether it was and I started doing that really in the days of ingamar Johansson and Floyd Patterson and then it became and then of course the big ugly bear Sonny Liston came along and destroyed Patterson with two first-round Knockouts and was considered unbeatable and then Along Came this young guy called the Louisville lip Muhammad Ali who did a record album called I am the greatest and I used to sit and listen to that album day in and day out I had it memorized I still have it today I can do it today why'd you listen to it so much because she became my hero okay and uh I remember when he was going to fight list and nobody picked cashes to win except me I said cash isn't going to win dad and sure enough Cassius did win and uh uh he's been my hero since I was probably nine or ten years old I got the chance to spend a day with him when I was governor it was one of the best days of my life what did you guys do during that day hung out we went to his Muhammad's home at the time in Barren Springs Michigan I was governor well what led to that was that when I won the governorship and I gave my acceptance speech no one thought I could win just as no one thought Cassius would beat Sonny Liston and I remember that night Muhammad cash is saying we shocked the world so I got up that night and I told the story of Muhammad beating Sonny Liston and how they shocked the world and I said we shot the world two weeks later businessman Harvey McKay came to my office in the lower bowels of the Capitol because Governor Carlson was still governor and we're waiting for the transition to take place who's ladder in the afternoon he had 10 minutes and I thought what is this about and Harvey walked in with a big box and he set it down on my governor-elect desk and he said I'm here to deliver this to you and he said you better open it and when I opened it up there was a pair of red Everlast gloves in it and it said to Governor Jesse Ventura you shocked the world Muhammad Ali he had been watching that night on television your son Tyrell told me you got pretty emotional with getting that gift oh yeah shits in my office behind glass today why do you think he got so emotional because he's your hero and I get emotional now because he gave up the greatest title in the world being a man of his conviction and if I can be half that man he is the greatest he gave up the title the most prestigious title in the world because he refused to go to war and they would have given him a patent job all he did did was walk around doing exhibitions but he knew if he agreed to do that more young black people would be sent off to a war he was against and he stood up and said I'll give up the greatest title in the world because I will be a man of conviction did you talk to him about that when you were with Rob that day in Michigan probably the most thing I the thing I remember the most was we sat down and we were he gets stuff every day people mail and stuff VCRs and he had gotten a new one of early days of him fighting I mean this is way before he was a champ and he's here and I'm here and we're watching him fight and he's in one particular fight I think Sunny Banks if I remember right and Banks catch it maybe it wasn't him but it was somebody caught him clean clean pow and Muhammad's down on his back right well he quick got up and you know he went on to win the fight but when he went down on his back I looked over at Muhammad Muhammad looked at me and even through his Parkinson's he leaned over and whispered to me slipped and I just burst out laughing I thought only Muhammad Ali you know this was no slip this was a clean shot and he knew it but only Muhammad would tell you slipped and I just loved it and if here's the other thing Muhammad Ali credits his talking to pro wrestling if you go into his history you'll find out okay he was going to an event where gorgeous Georgia one of them guys was at it at a radio station Mohammed went to fight that night there were a hundred people there gorgeous George was sold out and Muhammad watched what he did on an interview the rap she'll write them in predicting the rounds he then evolved into Ali because he realized you have to sell yourself you have to become something you have to be a Salesman what made you decide to run for governor in the first place well people forget I had been a mayor first I was mayor of the sixth largest city in Minnesota from 90 to 94. what made me governor was I was doing Statewide talk radio and in the 90s Economic Times were great everybody was making huge money well the state of Minnesota had I think a one or two billion dollar budget surplus in other words they set a budget and because taxes and the economy was so powerful they brought in two billion dollars more than they needed well you know what they did with it spent it they had no right to do that that's our money that should be given back they live under a budget if they get more than their budget calls for that money should be returned it's not theirs to keep well they kept it and spent it like kids in a candy store why was doing talk radio I was outraged over that I said that's my money that's our money what right do they have to spend it because they over taxed us so I said maybe I ought to run for governor oh my God it took off like wildfire and then I was caught I had to do it I initially was I mean did you really have no intention of it when you said it and then not a million people are if then all of a sudden people yeah run Jesse run okay you know and then it caught on like wildfire and then I realized again to hold myself to the standard of my hero Muhammad Ali I had to run now I had to I had to do it so I'd we did it I remember I announced it on the steps of the capital in the middle of the winter alone and the first thing the media said to me was well where's your family because you know how politicians always parade the wife and kids out there right and I looked right at the media and said this isn't about my family I said this is the business of running the state of Minnesota my family has nothing to do with this and I will keep them separated as much as I can I will not bring them into it like the typical politician does what do you think you were able to win given how much less money you spent campaigning compared to the other candidates because I was allowed to debate they made a fatal air you noticed they haven't allowed anybody's since no third party's been allowed to debate since I won and I loved what you said in one of the debates the moderator asked you some question and you just didn't know the answer to it and you said as much as opposed to trying to well I remember the question they asked me about the I triple RB which is way up on the Iron Range it's a government within the government well nobody down here in the city is going to know what the hell the I Triple R B I didn't know what I said I don't even know what it is but I said if it's important I'll learn about it the crowd erupted in Applause and cheering because they saw someone who wasn't building them they saw someone who got up I did you know I never used a prepared speech my entire run for governor I didn't have speech writers I didn't have I didn't have uh what do they call it uh uh Spin Doctors we didn't even do polling we didn't bother we didn't have the money to do any of that who do you think were the people most responsible for you getting elected the citizens of Minnesota they voted for me they're most responsible now I know that's a the not the answer you were looking for because it wasn't the question you were truly asking um I think the people that worked on my campaign that were all volunteers we only paid one person the late Doug fried line to be my campaign manager and he left his private sector job to do it we paid him the equivalent salary he would have gotten he was the only paid for person and I told them at the start I will not pay my own money to get elected how many first-time voters came out of that election a lot and that was largely the difference too wasn't it that's why that's how come if I run for president if they let me in the debates I'd win that too bold talk isn't it what's the likelihood you ever try and run who knows let's wait till the libertarian convention where the Libertarians announced their candidate and that candidate gets ballot access throughout the whole country then you time it out you spend the least money you come in you destroy their two candidates if you're allowed in the debate if they got the freaking guts to let me in a debate I'll come in and destroy their two candidates and steal the election in November just like I did in Minnesota would you like to be president no not particularly but in the back of my mind there's always that patriotic voice saying to me if not you then who who's going to restore America who's going to take on the two-party dictatorship and beat them who can do that well I've done it twice haven't lost yet so after why do you think I'm a scary guy to them why do you think you're because I've never lost to them you notice I include them as them I don't distinguish between the two parties because there is no difference after you were both owned by the same corporate ownership it does in other words if you go to sports if you bet on both teams in the Super Bowl you're not going to lose are you well if you own both candidates you're not going to lose are you well and that's why you've said you wish politicians would have to wear NASCAR type suits with the logos yeah I wish they'd require anyone running for president to wear a NASCAR shoot with patches right dictating who owns them I mean it's simple when you see Jimmy Johnson what do you see Lowe's right then he's got all his other smaller patches around it well if Jesse Ventura runs for president there won't be a patch on the suit it'll be clear White I imagine some of my opponents wouldn't have enough suit to put the patches on they may have to have a subordinate wear one too so they could get all the patches on how much do you fault the candidates for that and how much do you fault just the the system I thought the Democrats and Republicans and the system they've created you notice I don't even discuss the candidates didn't do that when I went for governor either I run against the parties because the candidates are nothing but puppets to the party the parties got the strings they're the puppets that's what you got there's no strings over Jesse Ventura no Puppet Master on me so after you're elected governor um I believe you have a conference room in the bowels of the capital uh where one whole wall is covered with sticky notes of messages that you've got and everyone from Jay Leno to princes to Kings your Chief of Staff Stephen was telling me about it the other day what was that like you know what's funny I didn't really see it Stephen would know about it and the people at that part of the staff I may have seen that wall once but I really didn't pay attention to it because once you won the election you have to govern the state of Minnesota and no one's going to help because I'm an independent no independent had won so who do we seek to say for help they're not going to help they want me to fail so that an independent will never get elected again and so the moment I won the election it was a seven day work week not 24 hours a day but you can bet at least 12 hours a day or more one of your friends said before that by the end of your term you really didn't like being Governor anymore how true is that that's not true uh I like I loved being Governor I would have sought a second term but I kept it quiet I did not seek a sacred term because it was no one's business at the time but it was because of my wife's health oh really yeah and uh being governor was detrimental to her health what happened to her excuse me during the campaign she contacted mono and didn't know it it was improperly diagnosed and it evolved into chronic fatigue syndrome which is real and she suffered through chronic fatigue the entire time I was governor and it was weighing on her a great deal and I can unequivocally state that my political Ambitions are not more important than my wife in other words I will give up any political job for her to what extent was that at all a hard decision for you it was a difficult decision because I wanted to change Minnesota Government to unicameral one house and it was going to require me to get reelected to attempt to do that because I couldn't even get these cowards to voted on the floor you know they kill it in committee they do all this they're you know that's on the system how are you able to convince the Bush Administration to let Minnesota trade with Cuba I don't know I had great people working for me they came to me with results guess what we get to go to Cuba and we get to set up trade relations in a country that has an embargo for some reason the Embargo on medical and agricultural got temporarily lifted what do you remember from your trip there everything it was exciting I I today I think I'm the only elected official who can say while elected met with Fidel Castro over the objections of the Bush Administration what did they say to you I don't know they didn't want me to and my response was well am I supposed to just believe you guys I want to go to Cuba and see the place if I get to meet with Fidel Castro I get to meet him face to face and draw my own opinion of the man not what my media or what you tell me and uh that was an exciting I I now have a huge picture of me and Fidel Castro on my wall at home how many people can say they have that probably not too many how many elected officials in America while elected can say they've have that what was he like I found him I'll tell you he had the most unique handshake I've ever Shook and I've shook a lot he wound up and thrusts his hand down I found that very unique he looked me right in the eye and he said you're a man of great courage and I looked him in the eye and I called him Mr President because they have elections too you know he's just the only one on the ballot we give you two oh boy is America great we give you two one more than Fidel you know you might as well give her because our two are the same so you might as well just get Fidel you know same thing but he looked he said you're a man of great courage and I looked him in the eye and said Mr President how can you say that you don't know me and he said because you defied your president to come here he knew everything and I looked at him and I said well you'll find that I defy most everything and he laughed now to end the story when we finished he invited me to come back again and to bring my wife and children as his guest did you know the state department banned my wife's passport she wasn't allowed to go with me what well what do women do when men go on business trips they shop they didn't want any money spent in Cuba like my wife is going to prop up the Cuban economy how now how ridiculous think about that she wasn't allowed we're a free country and yet my government told my wife she could not accompany me on this trip right which is remarkable considering you were yeah home of the brave landed a free right okay now when I left office there's no diplomatic ties between the U.S and Cuba I'll tell you a quick story that I've never told I don't think publicly one day Steve came up to me and says you got to go to the governor's residence tonight at four I said why he looked around he whispered Cuba I said okay so I went to the governor's residence normally I'd go home on a Friday to Maple Grove where my house is four o'clock a car pulls up a guy gets out from the Swedish Embassy because C Cuba has no Embassy here so Castro has to go through someone else the Swedish Embassy comes in and meets with me and hears the message he said this is a message from Havana to you personally he said Cuba wants you to know that a friend of Cuba's they know you're not seeking re-election but they want you to know a friend of Cuba's will always be a friend of Cuba's in other words you're going to be our friend even though you're not the governor anymore I thought and you know who that came from sure I thought that was pretty good I thought that was pretty loyal too what did you ask him about the Kennedy assassination here's his perception of it what did he have to say couldn't shut him up for 20 minutes he said it was an inside job he said Oswald couldn't make the shots you know that as well as I do he said I have nothing to do with it he said do I look suicidal to you he said I love my country he said if I killed John Kennedy the United States would have wiped Cuba off the Earth I'm not suicidal he didn't have anything to do with it and he's correct Oswald couldn't make the shots and it was an inside job what do you think happened I think we killed our president I think a coup d'etat took place he had John Kennedy lived there would have been no Vietnam War imagine that imagine now that alone would have changed history Kennedy had already ordered the first thousand advisors out and he said that when he was elected he would pull us completely out of Vietnam after he was reelected well they made sure that he wasn't re-elected and LBJ here's your example when LBJ became president the first meeting he had with Kennedy's cabinet the next day in Washington you know what the topic was it wasn't the State of the Union it wasn't the economy his first meeting as president LBJ was about the Vietnam war that wasn't a war yet what should that say to you your first meeting is going to be the highest priority right the war that wasn't a war yet and then Johnson a week later rescinded Kennedy's withdrawal and committed more troops John Kennedy was killed because he wouldn't go to war and you've done specials on this before I know it interested you greatly well I've read every book on it you say it was an inside job what do you believe actually happened I believe that I can't we can't tell you who pulled triggers because it's been so long and but the Warren commissions of farce that's been proven uh so there were two conspiracies that took place the one to actually kill John Kennedy and then the one to cover it up afterward and you're just as guilty if you take part in either one and so our government I believe he was killed because he there would have been he already had detaunt he it's come out now through a book called JFK and the Unspeakable it was discovered in the Vatican Kennedy and Khrushchev were back Channel communicating that their governments didn't even know it and both of them had agreed they were going to end the Cold War by 65. imagine that what the world would be and what happened Kennedy was killed they were doing it through Pope John he died of cancer and Khrushchev was a coup d'etat happened in Russia and Khrushchev was took taken out of office because there were people that wanted the Cold War and what did we get substantially 20 more years of it how senior were the officials that you think knew what was going on in terms of I think it goes to the highest echelons of our government because 24 hours after Kennedy was killed uh uh J Edgar Hoover said Oswald did it they haven't looked at any evidence yet how could he make that determination 20 Minneapolis paper Monday morning Kennedy's killed on Friday Oswald's killed on Sunday at noon Minneapolis paper Monday morning my mother kept it we found it when she died Minneapolis morning paper that meant it had to go out early they weren't computers then Dallas Police declare case closed Monday morning my son read that he was about 14 at the time looked at me you know what his quote was my god dad they spend more time on a domestic and he was right I said you're right son what can I tell you Monday morning they have no they didn't see Oswald with a gun in fact he tested negative in a paraffin test he hadn't fired a weapon wooded Oswald's wife say to you when you spent time with her she's very vague she's also very uh she protects her children Lee's two daughters immensely she's not going to talk much about it because they held over here the fear of deporting her back to Russia so Marina is going to say whatever the government wants her to say today she's come out and said reversed herself and she said in light of all the information I don't believe my husband killed Kennedy today but at the time they got her to say he did because they locked her up in Solitaire and threatened to deport her my country does a lot of things that if people paid attention to they wouldn't find it so wonderful now do you see why mainstream media don't like Jesse Ventura Chris Kyle deadliest sniper in American history author of American Sniper the best-selling book which game uh is he the deadliest sniper in American history okay well that's how he's regarded no no that's what he alleges okay I don't know if he is or not but he wrote a chapter on me that's a complete fabricated lie so he to give that context you know said in the book that he punched you know somebody at a bar later said publicly that person was you what was your reaction when you first heard that well I was in Mexico Off the Grid so I couldn't react to it I heard about it from an email from my son and I had to contact Alex Jones my friend in Texas to defend me I was out of the country timing was perfect on it wasn't it right after I left the country so I couldn't defend myself the story is a complete fabricated lie I did what you're supposed to do go to court put people under oath and prove it we proved it in court the jury ruled for me was there any communication between when tile initially made the public comments and when you filed the lawsuit between the two of you no I didn't even know him my first recollection of Chris Kyle was June of 2012 at the first settlement hearing what happened there uh he had made a statement that if we met together that we could solve the whole thing so the courts allowed us to meet in a room together one-on-one and I looked at him and I said how can you say you hit me you never hit me and he said yes I did I turned to the judge I said we're done right now I said if this guy's not going to admit it never happened then what's the point I offered to him I said if you'll go out with me to the media admit you fabricated the story I will forgive you and we'll go our separate ways you wouldn't do it he didn't have the honor he didn't have this hero from the war didn't have the courage to tell the truth and he's not a hero you know why he's a backstabbing liar he hoarded the Trident for money and fame he took an Old Timer like me and threw me under the bus so he could get money and the the point is he's not a hero you know why he's not a hero but because Heroes have to have honor you have to have honor to be a hero a liar has no honor follow me why do you think there were several other seals that backed up his story they didn't if you come to the trial there wasn't one witness that heard me say what they said on the stand there wasn't one witness on the stand who said they saw him hit me all they were doing was relaying hearsay from their body remember if you'll die for someone you'll lie for him when you two had that meeting um the attempted settlement meeting what do you think his goal was with it to be rich and famous he had to take the most I guess the highest profile member of the community and threw him under the bus because his book went you know what the pre-sale was of that book four thousand when he went on opening Anthony and O'Reilly and told that lie it jumped a hundred thousand in one day one day even the brook company harpercollins admitted it was a niche book all of a sudden it's I was the Catalyst it was like a jet or a rocket going into space you have to have a booster a booster that ditched you to space and then once you're in space you can orbit I was the booster rocket you said going through that the most traumatic thing you've been through since your parents died what why because everybody in America I'm now a person who's either loved or hated and everybody believes the LIE they've perpetrated that I sued a widow and a war Hero's Widow and children which is completely fabricated and false and the other side's attorney have pushed that she I think this attack could well be bigger than Kyle what do you mean if I'm involved in a court case like this I can't run for office can I and they've alienated a great deal of people towards me by the lies that have been perpetrated by both the media and the book famous Navy SEAL who've authored Lone Survivor which is also become a movie when this was all going on posted a picture of you with the caption hit me I won't fight back I'll just wait for you to die and sue your wife who wrote that the author of Lone Survivor really the guy who I secured from hell week I'm in his book you know I was the first civilian they allowed to secure hell week he wrote that about me huh that's despicable on his part because I know I sued Chris Kyle for lying she doesn't the lie mean anything and he's assuming I got hit I didn't I didn't I prove it in court how much did the backlash get to you a lot I can never I I don't care to say I'm a seal anymore uh I won't go to a reunion ever again uh I'm going I'm uh it's heard a great deal because uh I used to always go to reunions I used to contribute money not an at all stop now because nobody from the community has come forward to support me and I'm an innocent victim it would be the equivalent of me throwing a WW2 frog man under the bus this Iraq guy throws a Vietnam guy under the bus really that's what the guy that wrote Lone Survivor said about me he should be ashamed of himself what do you think the likelihood is of being able to repair everything to make amends with the kind of seal Brotherhood never well the seals like to Pride themselves that they've never left a body behind they have now me I was left behind now I'm a pow seal who was left behind and they did nothing to recover me that's how I feel about it that's how betrayed I feel I want to change the topic and get get into um wrestling which was kind of what launched uh your career I think you got into wrestling almost via a classified ad and then you have seven months of training what did you do during well there was a classified ad that said learn to be a pro wrestler at the Seventh Street Gym in Downtown Minneapolis and I answered the ad and I went down and met Eddie Sharkey who had remembered as a kid had been a wrestler very good one and he trained me for seven months what'd you learn to wrestle so that I was prepared to go anywhere in the country and have a match how many miles did you put on your car during those first couple of years well I always like to tell the story the First new car I bought was a 1975 Mercury Cougar and this included carpooling in two years it had 128 000 miles on it and that included carpooling that's amazing how painful was once going through a period where you got sold 63 days in a row where I wrestled 63 consecutive nights in a row it wasn't painful because it became routine it was just it was just hugely tiring probably my UDT training helped because it was it was I mean think about it for a moment has any job ever asked you to work 63 nights in a row no well it also reassured me the wrestling media Union they don't have one that way people don't wrestle 63 nights in a row but when I tried to unionize that was met with stiff competition trust me I almost got fired by Vince because of it right but then I went off to do predator and when I did Predator I became a member of The Screen Actors Guild so when I came back to Vince I said you don't have to worry about me talking about Union anymore I got mine I said if these guys are so stupid that they won't organize then that's their problem I'm a member of The Screen Actors Guild and still M today and I get my retirement and Health Care from it I want to run through a few close calls that you had while wrestling and get you to recall the story the first one being the Eugene Oregon fan oh that was I was involved in a match in Eugene and uh it got a little wild and and when I was leaving the police I was a villain or a heel and the police always escort you back to the dressing room and a fight broke out at ringside so I made the mistake of dismissing my security figuring I was okay go ahead take care of the fight I'm fine well I still had a ways to go to get to the dressing room and in the interim a guy came around the corner pulled out a huge hunting knife unsheathed it and basically said I'm gonna kill you and he was coming at me and by reading his eyes I knew he was dead serious so I immediately thought well when a guy has a knife you're probably gonna have to sacrifice something to the knife in which to get him so I was at that determinating period when all of a sudden out of the stands this guy dropped behind him grabbed him spun him around and had him cuffed in an instant well it turned out it was a plain closed cop happened to take his kids to the matches and happened to be looking down and saw this was taking place he jumped out of the stands and it turned out the kid was a minor they couldn't even charge him here he was attempted murder he was going to stab me with this knife but he was under 18. so all they can do is release him to the custody of his parents at that time how about the 70 year old woman oh I don't know her age she was probably older than that that was Denver Colorado and they have a rail around the ring there and I was being the villain again and I jumped out of the ring which villains do because that's part of the way to get people angry at you don't stay in there and get beat up run because all villains are cowards right they're stereotypical things you have to do like blonde hair and I had backed up to the railing and all of a sudden I felt this excruciating pain and I turned around I was going to deck whoever did it and here was an old woman probably in her 80s dripping in diamonds she had taken her long fingernails clawed me down the back and drew blood on three of them so I just turned the security said arrest her so she went to jail you know that's assault sorry I mean she drew blood on me with three I didn't knock her out when I saw how old she was headed have been a young kid there he'd probably got tapped something that turned into a really serious situation I know you didn't think it would be initially the pulmonary embolism well it was initially because I didn't know what it was and I wrestled with it for three nights and I thought I was just it was winter time or or I I had come from Minnesota and I was wrestling Phoenix and I had no breath I was running out of energy and I thought at first I thought well maybe it's Arizona I'm not used to it it's hot here and then the next night I wrestled Oakland same thing and uh got to San Diego and I hung with John studman and John was going to the gym and I just said John I'm not feeling good I'm going to take a nap and I took a nap I woke up and I had a bench the whole bed was wet and sweat I couldn't even take a deep breath so I went out to my rental car I drove to the emergency room at the sharp Cabrillo Hospital there was a former Marine there he sat me down in a chair and he said uh I don't want you to move and I said what do you think I have he said I think he got pulmonary emboli blood clots in the lungs you're too good of an athlete we did an arterial blood draw and I was only at like 78 72 percent oxygen he said an athlete like you should be running 95 to 98 oxygen and then they came in and do an angiogram and found out I had massive blood clots in my lungs and I couldn't wrestle for six months how did you handle that period recouping looking into the mirror wondering what are you going to do now you've been wrestling for 10 to 12 years it's the only thing you know how to do you can't put that on a resume and go to General Mills and think you're going to get a job so I faced The Dilemma that all pro athletes have to face I faced it a little prematurely what do you do when it's all over and then many times out of bad comes good and that was the case in uh that was in my case was uh during my convalescing Vince called one day and said Jesse you're good enough to get around now you can't get back in the ring he said do you think you could do color commentating be an announcer he said I want to try something new and I said you want me to announce he said there's never been a bad guy on the mic someone who sides with the villains and it was Vince's idea he said you think I said I know I could do it so when I went there to do my first one he gave me the greatest marching orders you could get before I went out to broadcast he said here's your mindset if you believe it it's true can you imagine being told that if you believe it it's true in other words he's giving me carte blanche to say anything I want and the greatest job in the world when I graduated then and went to the number one team with Vince and I Saturday night main event where we still hold the record for the largest points ever we beat Madonna when she was on Saturday Night Live killed her we got a 34 share wow imagine that 34 one out of three TVs in the U.S was watching Saturday Night Live Well imagine having a job where you can totally ridicule your boss on National Television he pays you to do it and loves it there can't be a better job in the world could there imagine if you could do that to your boss right ridicule them on national TV and he loves it and pays you to do it and the more the better what do you think of Vince McMahon I think I I have admiration for him he's the PT Barnum of the generation he took wrestling and made it a household word and took it national and made himself a billionaire now is Vince a ruthless billionaire businessman yes but you probably have to be uh I bear no grudge against Vince you used to though didn't you no I just when I disagreed with him I did the proper thing you go to court I took him to federal court and beat him and I have a retirement now he has to pay me for every tape I've ever been on and as long as he sells them so quarterly I get a check from him and have since 1991. I called my wrestling retirement I'm the only wrestler in the world that has it a retirement even though technically it's not why do you think you won't have me back he's not going to invite me back and have to pay me royalties it's that simple so I probably you never say never but I probably will never be at a WrestleMania because it would require them to pay me royalties from federal court how do you think Vince views you I think that at times he hates my guts but I think deep down he admires me because he sees a lot of him and me I don't take crap from no one I'm an individual and I didn't even take crap from him that's why we separated he wanted to control my marketing and I wouldn't let him I already had copyrighted Jesse The Body of Ventura and I owned it and I wouldn't give it up to him that's why we parted company because I would not give up my individual individuality or ownership to him you and Hulk were once good friends yeah what's the likelihood of that ever being repaired never what can't trust him I don't I'm not friends with anyone I don't trust I have to have a trust with someone to be their friend and he's the one that ratted me to Vince when I tried to unionize I found that out under Federal deposition when Vince was put under sworn and he didn't hesitate at all I told my lawyer the story and in deposition you can ask about anything and so I wanted to know who ratted me in the locker room because there were no agents no one from the office was in there when I did it so it had to be one of the boys and when my attorney said is there Mr McMahon has there ever been a union in wrestling and Vince said no should has anyone ever tried to invent said well I think Jesse Ventura spouted his mouth off about it once or once before and my attorney said did you hear Mr Ventura no well then how do you know he did with no hesitation Vince when Hulk Hogan told me and I didn't show any emotion but I almost tipped over in the chair because he was my friend and I thought but then I understand why when we went to court I saw in WrestleMania 3 Hogan got paid more than all of us combined now why would he want a union when he's getting taken care of Imagine That WrestleMania 3 93 000 people and he got more than Andre the Giant and all the rest of us to mind if there was a union would that happen no what communication did you have with Hulk after you found that out none I've never spoken to him since and don't intend to did he ever try and why reach out why would he bother with me he's dealing with Hulkamania the only time he made contact he wrote a book when I was governor and he was coming here once to do a book signing and he wanted to make sure I wouldn't get him arrested so he actually had Vince McMahon contact me as governor and you know what I told Vince I said you tell Hulk believe it or not I have more important things on my mind than him I said I know it'll destroy his ego to hear that but I don't think of him on a daily basis what did Hulk Hogan say about steroids that bothered you he said he never took him that was a lie actually he when he was here in Minneapolis that's who you went to get him from really [Laughter] well you'll say that's not true but uh for him like we the common laugh used to be when he used to tell the kids to say their prayers and take their vitamins in the dressing room we'd always laugh and say orals are injectables when you tell them to take their vitamins because a slang term for steroids is vitamins predator how did you get the role in spite of Vince McMahon's wishes I read for it and I had an agent in Hollywood at the time I used to go there as often as I could and he got me appointment with Jackie Birch and they were casting the next Schwarzenegger movie which was predator and the part of Sergeant Blaine Special Forces six four two fifty I fit it perfect and I had the background for it and I chewed tobacco which was in the script they asked me can you chew tobacco and I pulled out my Copenhagen and red man and said I've been chewing for 20 years so it was not acting when I chewed tobacco and spit it on Carl's boots why have you said before that's one of the best decisions you've ever made in your life well because it got me it it gave me a union it gave me the Screen Actors Guild it gave me my retirement today it gave me health care for my family to be a member of The Screen Actors Guild tell about to get back to Predator uh your first encounter with John Claude Van Damme yeah well Jean-Claude was at the time a nobody living out of his trunk and this was the first job he got he was going to be the predator you know they they didn't know exactly what the Predator was going to be yet I didn't even know what the Predator was until I went to a screening they hadn't determined yet because remember he was invisible to us so they shot him completely separate but Jean-Claude originally got cashed for the Predator because I guess they felt with his karate agility and all that he'd be able to move good through the jungle with this suit on well I don't think Jean-Claude realized they weren't going to see his face so he's a good kid I love him today but he got down there and did nothing but complain so Joel Silver fired him his first job he gets fired and Joel says he'll never work in Hollywood again Sean Claude goes up and signs a three-picture deal with Dela rents and is a big star now so it goes to show you when they tell you you'll never work in the business again she answers are you still may get an opportunity so what's your favorite line from predator ah my favorite line me personally makes Cambodia look like Kansas when you know what you were waiting for I ain't got time to believe actually I wouldn't give you that one but it was because that was a scene that had been originally cut they weren't going to shoot it and that I wanted it shot because Richard Chavez and I were both Vietnam veterans and we wanted to do a scene together the two actual veterans we were the real Veterans of the platoon who had he was Army I was Navy and uh and uh so Richard and I wanted to do that scene Arnold got sick so they resurrected the scene and I knew it would get in the film because John mcteon and the director never showed any emotion but when Richard shot the thing and everything and he says you got time to duck mctiernan walked away from that scene laughing and he had never shown any emotion on any scene so I knew I said that's going to be in the film because mctiernan found that extremely funny Arnold Schwarzenegger I I know you guys were very close for a long time and I understand you haven't spoken to him since the whole uh cheating scandal what do you think the likelihood is you guys are able to be friends again probably very unlikely because uh Arnold's now out of politics I'm out of it unless I come back into it and I live in Minnesota and Mexico and he lives in Southern California I I'm only upset because I was also good friends with Maria and I had a great respect for her as a person as a woman and who she is and I've been married 40 years 40 years and I just thought he did it wrong and why should I guess maybe the the I guess maybe the puzzling thing would be I would side with the woman rather than the man but in this case I do I have all the sympathy for Maria because she should have never been treated in that manner tell about the workouts and the almost like competition like workouts you guys would have while she's working out there wasn't competition it was all friendly right Arnold's great to do a film with because he's so powerful they bring his whole gym and they set it up in a room and Arnold's wonderful he gives everyone keys he likes to see guys work out he's very much Pro that after all that's what got him his Fame so we all could work out whenever you want well what I would do we'd always have to be at the set at 7 00 a.m so we'd have to get up at five to train well I'd get up at a quarter to five and I'd go in there and I'd take a water bottle and I'd soak my shirt like with sweat so when Arnold and Sven his bodyguard would come in I'd be working out already I probably got there two minutes before him but I'd be soaking wet and sweat doing whatever Arnold wood looks men we better get up earlier look at Jesse the bodies in here who knows how long he's been in here you know so it was just you had some great Builds on the show I mean you got Mr Olympia Schwarzenegger the best built man in the world Jesse The Body Ventura Carl Weathers Apollo Creed great build Sunny landam great build you got all these bodies down there well we don't look like we look by laying around we all pay a price to look that way and so it was very friendly there was nobody ripping anybody I mean how could I compare to Schwarzenegger he's Mr Olympia for God's sake he's the best built man in the world and you wrote in one of your books uh that Arnold was one of the most focused men you ever met in your life yeah what because I watched him turn down 14 million dollars they came in and offered him Predator too right there before one even went out and I watched I was sitting right in there when he said No and when they left I looked at Arnold said Arnold how do you turn down 14 million dollars that's where you go I'll do it for half I was ready to raise my hand in the air uh he looked right at me says Jesse the time is not right and he was correct look how long he made him wait for the second Terminator he made it made him wait seven years so it was another Mega hit see Arnold Arnold is he's the most focused man because you've got to be that to win Mr Olympia to be the best built man in the world you can't have any outside interference you've got to eat right train right and sleep right continually 24 7 that requires Focus what do you think you learned from him well he taught me to never read a script till the money's right otherwise you've wasted your time so whenever they come with me with a script I make sure the money's right before I even read it because if because if you read it and like it you may be biased about the money then you know it's interesting I was talking to your Chief of Staff your former Chief of Staff Steve yesterday and obviously the professions you've been in whether that be Pro Sports acting politicians not exactly profession synonymous with being faithful and at the end of the conversation with them I asked him I'm like is there anything that you've never heard Jesse asked about before during an interview that you think would be interesting to bring up and he said the unquestioning loyalty to his wife um and I wonder what do you think has made it last so long because I love her and because we're partners and because uh if she weren't with me there'd be a void I need her not just emotionally and all that she does I don't have entourages so guess who it all falls to I don't do the internet so guess who has to do the internet for me I don't send emails I've never owned a cell phone and now it's my life's Mission not to I want to be the first person if I live another 20 years or whatever it might be I want to be the only person that can put on his gravestone he never owned a cell phone well she does so what would I do then I'd have to own a cell phone if I got rid of her oh there you go and that is far more important not owning a cell phone to achieve that goal I hope everyone's laughing at that but in today's day and age you never know Jesse Ventura chooses a cell phone over his wife you can see that headline coming out from the media uh I don't know it's uh I'm so attached to her now that it would be the same as me losing a limb you live in Mexico half the year you split your time between Mexico and Minneapolis yeah um is it true that you have no TV phone or electricity there I live off the grid I live an hour from pavement and an hour from electricity I have everything you have electric wise because I'm completely solar I live off the sun okay and there's a place to do it you get sun all but about four days a year uh I I do not have TV there per se I have a TV that we watch movies and DVDs on how outdated those are but I got tons of them uh we do have Internet satellite and we can do Skype but other than that I have no Communications to the United States other than doing my Off the Grid show which we do from various locations so that the uh drones won't find me and kill me because you know today if you speak ill about United States government and policy we will kill you without a trial with a drone we've done it before and certainly we'll do it again does that not concern you that our government kills people without a trial its own citizens but we're doing it aren't we isn't that unconstitutional why are we breaking our Constitution and our Bill of Rights on a regular basis in this country that's the fabric of our nation explain what it means to you to unplug the brain unplug the brain I think that that's one of your phrases right I don't know if I what I what what what I find living in Mexico does is it it uh I describe it as flushing out your brain uh and what does that mean to you well what it means to me is when we made the decision not to have television because I can get satellite TV down there but we chose not to uh if I live in Mexico and watch United States TV every night I'm really not in Mexico am I if I'm watching ustv every night I could be sitting here doing the same thing that's what I cut out that's what it's called people often ask me what can you do in Mexico that you can't do here I'll tell you one thing I've done there that you can't do here I've gone to a lagoon with a some Mexican guides I've gone out in a lagoon and I physically touched gray whales in the wild and stuck my hands in their mouths from a boat can't do that here and that was a life-changing thing for me that I've done a lot of stuff but that's in the top five going out and physically and when I talk about re when I talk about being with gray whales I don't mean they pass by and you touch them we had a mother in her calf spend an hour and 15 minutes with us they love to have their gums scratched the mother went over there and we babysat the calf played hide and seek I got into a water fight with them where they'd spray me with the blowhole and I'd throw water on them and I've looked into their eyes and when you do you see intelligence what do you do clearly they communicate how would they know it's safe how would they know in this one little Lagoon in Mexico you can interact with these humans that they're forced to live with because they need our air remember they're not fish they're mammals explain why you don't fly commercial anymore because I'm tired of being treated like a criminal I have metal in my body and when I go to an airport I'm treated like a criminal and I got tired I there was a time I was flying three or four times a week and being padded down three to four times a week and then I got angry and angry I couldn't figure out why and then I realized in a free country you should not feel comfortable being patted down and I was getting the point where it was becoming like brushing my teeth it was happening on such a regular basis getting patted down and I don't think anyone in a free country should feel comfortable being patted down but the United States citizens are today they're getting real comfortable being padded down well they had a Homeland Security set if you don't like it don't fly so I quit flying after I tried to sue them right I sued them under Fourth Amendment and the judge ruled she didn't have Authority how can a federal judge not have authority over a fourth amendment question it's a scam because they don't want to deal with it because if Jesse Ventura wins it opens up a can of worms what jury is going to go against me who's going to go against me on the fourth amendment unreasonable search and seizure I've been a mayor I've been a governor I'm an honorably discharged Navy veteran I've been flying for 30 years I pose no threat I'd win they can't have the case they can't let me win because it would open up a bag of worms last one for you the most satisfying moment from your career to date would be what um that's really hard to say because there's probably one thing every decade that could fit under that uh graduating from buds was huge basic underwater demolition SEAL training being part of wrestling going National with Vince McMahon and being on board was extremely exciting and then of course how could I not say winning mayor and governor mayor first which wasn't as big but winning governor and doing what no one said could be done and defeating the Democrats and Republicans for the second time that's why they fear me thank you very much thank you

Channel: Graham Bensinger

Views: 186,034

Keywords: Graham Bensinger, In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Sports Interview, Feature Interview, Sports Journalism

Id: nt5mRyIyOzU

Length: 68min 5sec (4085 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 09 2023