Arnold Schwarzenegger is in stable condition following emergency open-heart surgery Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“I’m back,” were the first words from the 70-year-old “Terminator” legend and former California governor upon waking from the procedure, according to his spokesman Daniel Ketchell.

Update: @Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually “I’m back”, so he is in good spirits. https://t.co/bJ4pxqS8l6 — Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 30, 2018

Schwarzenegger had checked into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for a procedure Thursday to replace a valve that was originally installed in 1997 due to a congenital heart defect, Ketchell said in a statement.

But during the procedure, which was less-invasive and considered “somewhat experimental,” Schwarzenegger experienced complications, which led to emergency open-heart surgery, sources told TMZ. Ketchell said an open-heart surgery team was on hand during the valve replacement.

The surgery lasted several hours, after which the valve was successfully replaced, TMZ and the Los Angeles Times reported. The actor, a former bodybuilder who won the Mr. Universe contest five times, is now in stable condition, according to various outlets.

As mentioned before, the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger had heart surgery in 1997 when he was 49. That was an elective heart surgery to replace a defective aortic heart valve.

At the time doctors didn’t feel the procedure was urgently needed, but Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times that he decided to do it while he was still young.

“I’ve never felt sick or had any symptoms at all, but I knew I’d have to take care of this condition sooner or later,” he said in a statement. “I said to the doctors, ‘Let’s do it now, while I’m young and healthy.’ They agreed this was the way to go.”

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Schwarzenegger acknowledged using steroids when he was a bodybuilder, but he said steroids had nothing to do with his heart condition.

“Steroids have nothing to do with this,” his spokeswoman said in 1997. “This is a congenital condition that’s existed in his family.”

Schwarzenegger became a global superstar in the 1980s and 1990s as the star of action movies like “Terminator” and “Total Recall.” He transitioned into politics when he successfully ran for California governor as a Republican, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011 and earning the nickname “The Governator.”

Since then, Schwarzenegger has mixed a return to acting with politics, with roles in films like “The Expendables” and in a yet-to-be-named “Terminator” reboot.

He also took over Donald Trump’s commanding-CEO role in the reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice.” But he quit last year, blaming Trump’s continued involvement in the show, even after being sworn in as president, for turning people off, Variety reported.

With regard to Trump, Schwarzenegger has stayed in politics, most publicly by feuding with Trump over his actions and policies as president, the Washington Post said. Schwarzenegger criticized the president for withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and for failing to condemn white supremacists whose rally in Charlottesville, Virginia erupted into violence and led to the death of a counter-protester.