Shawn Ray.

Say that to any bodybuilding fan in the world and you’re bound to get a reaction, varied though it may be. Arguably the most well known bodybuilder over the past two decades, and beyond (certain Austrians excluded, of course), Mr. Ray evokes passion from every aficionado of the sport. Of course, the sentiments are not all positive – but find a bodybuilding fan without an opinion on Shawn Ray and you have found a fan that has been living (and somehow, training) in a broom closet since around 1985. Shawn has been called everything from the quintessential bodybuilder, to the implacable businessman, to the egotistical, arrogant, and totally self-centered, self-proclaimed gift to bodybuilding. Whatever you choose to call him though, it’s tough to ignore the fact that Shawn Ray is for keeps. He has the staying power and determination of a bloodhound on the scent. He has the record for most consecutive top-five finishes at the Mr. Olympia (12 years in a row, from 1990 to 2001), and is tied (with Albert Beckles) for most Olympia appearances (13 in total). No other bodybuilder in history can lay claim to these accomplishments – even those who have been crowned Mr. Olympia!

It is also impossible to deny that Shawn has reached a significant turning point in his career, and his life. With his recent year hiatus from bodybuilding (after 18 years of competition), culminating in his marriage to Kristie Alvaredo, along with his discovery and embracing of Christianity, one might be tempted to say that Shawn Ray is growing up. One thing that has not changed, though, is Shawn’s proclivity for lengthy oration!

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to talk with Shawn this past April, and he had much to say regarding his career, bodybuilding in general, his life and his recent wedding. In fact, the interview took place the day after his wedding, and the day before he left on his honeymoon! In between opening presents, welcoming family and friends into his home for post-wedding festivities, and enjoying his new bride, Shawn somehow managed to find about two hours to chat with a fan. We all know tons about Shawn Ray, The Institution, but I wanted to find out about Shawn Ray. The man.

CQ: Shawn, after so many years of bachelorhood, and often being heard to say that you would never marry until you had retired from bodybuilding, you finally tied the knot! Tell us about the wedding.

SR: Well, it was amazing. One thing I walked away from the wedding with, besides the anticipation of it all, was sitting at the head of the table with the wedding party and just having my life play over in front of me as I looked at each one of my friends that I invited and then along the way looking at my girlfriend’s friends who I’ll come to know that I don’t know. Just thinking about how people stay in your life and have an impact on your life. It’s one thing right now to list the names of people you know but when you start sitting there reflecting on how you know them, and how long they’ve been in your life and why they remain in your life … and even the newer people that have come into my life – Garrett Downing hasn’t always been a friend but he and his wife have touched mine and Kristie’s relationship a way that, you know, they’re some of the people that if something good was happening we’d want to call and share it with them. And now Garrett is doing muscle camp with me and we’re donating money to multiple sclerosis for them. Then there’s Flex. Flex Wheeler and I were rivals our whole professional career – we’ve had our wars, and back and forth fights and stuff and it’s like at the end of the day, you know when our careers our over, we realized that all we’ve got is friendship. In the past some of our bodybuilding escapades distanced us but through it all some of the journeys have brought us closer together. I mean I’m the one that told him about his future wife, Madeline, when we went to guest pose up there in ‘93/’94, I said “hey man, check out this chick – you gotta see her”. See, there was a girl I was talking with (her sister) at the time, I wasn’t dating her, just talking to her, and I said she’s got a twin sister, man, and boom he went up there, met her, came home and married her. It is weird how that works because here we are now, both 37 years old and he’s married five years, has two kids by his wife and I’m settling down and he’s already prepping me on what I have to look forward to. Life itself has brought us closer together because we have more in common in real life than we do as bodybuilders. So just reflecting on all of those little things, going around making sure to get all the pictures made it an amazing experience. Because we are all gathered together and none of them know each other as well as I know them individually. It made the night really special.

CQ: It sounds like a very moving experience for you. And what a guest list! Pretty diverse.

SR: It really did give me a sense of who I am by reflecting upon how I know these people. Very eclectic group of people from obviously the professional bodybuilders – Garrett, Milos and Flex, to my buddy Dan, who buys and trades and sells cars, my buddy Mike who has an entertainment company out in Los Angeles who’s my best friend from high school, and all these guys coming from totally different walks. My next-door neighbor I grew up with on the same street – he’s a plastic surgeon and his wife is eight months pregnant. He’s 38 years old, one year older than me and it’s like … how our lives have kind of come full circle. That with age it seemed the guys who are a couple of years older than me had maybe turned a corner a little bit sooner than I have, and I’m getting that coaching and awareness of what to expect, getting prepped for mistakes and bumps in the road. The experience of the marriage, saying our vows before god, and all that advice coming from friends and family and it’s like – I got caught up in the moment. They say it can be an overwhelming experience. Alcohol or distractions would have taken me away from the moment and I was in the moment and it was everything that I thought it would be, because I did hold out for a long time.

CQ: No kidding. But it sounds like it was better that you did hold out that long.

SR: I feel like it is because I am more complete, and I’m definitely more balanced, and I’ve got vision in terms of what life is really about. Bodybuilding is a very selfish, individualized sport – you gotta go after yours. And to lump this on a girl that gives me … you know, she didn’t clip my wings. She still gives me my room to breathe as an individual and you know it takes an understanding, caring person to deal with a professional athlete in general, whose job is number one. But it’s also important for me, as a pro athlete, to realize that if I can bend and give a little bit I can actually get more in return from my girl, and that flexibility in our relationship is how the ring wound up on her finger in the first place.

CQ: Actually that’s an important realization. You’ve gotten a lot of advice from a lot of people and probably the best piece of advice you’ll ever get is the give and take.

SR: Sure, give and take definitely is where our balance lies, which is how she won me over. Because as a pro athlete there’s a lot of preconceived notions about how you are as a person, based on what people have read about you in a magazine or how they perceive you in an interview. Then you actually spend time with somebody and get deep in there and spend the good and the bad times ... you don’t really know what a person’s like. They say you marry your best friend and that is pretty much who I decided to marry and that’s pretty much the reason why I married her, because I wouldn’t find anybody that was going to be a better match for me. Some guys surrender – they get tired of running, they get tired of the game. I waited for it to be right. For me I felt like I didn’t want to lose this one because she did complete me, so … I’m still coming down from that high.

CQ: How has your faith influenced your relationship?

SR: Well, definitely, opening the bible and going to church gives me the foundation – the rock to build upon, which helps. Kristie is a very articulate, god-fearing woman who holds me accountable for my actions. I was the wild child, eligible bachelor for all of those years, never having to account for anything but myself and I realize now, through scripture and through fellowship, that having a girl like this definitely gives a better meaning to what the words life and love are all about. She helped me to find those two and is still helping me to understand. That’s why it’s like I got into a win-win situation here, because just when you think you know it all somebody comes along that can share something more important and then it’s a balance of teamwork. I wasn’t going to let her get away from me.

CQ: Well, good job! So what does your family think of her?

SR: Everybody loves her. Obviously I would have married her regardless of what anybody else thinks because I’ve always been that guy, I’ve got thick skin and I could care less what people say – things bounce off me, roll off me – I’m a Teflon man. Nothing gets me down, but my whole family considers me the luckiest man in the world. Like I hit the lottery, because she’s so complete, so balanced and that’s, at the end of the day I think, what any of your family and friends want. I didn’t get the ring to please anybody else, but in doing so my whole family was pleased with it.

CQ: It’s definitely a bonus when the family is happy too.

SR: Yeah, and so is hers. So that’s great because they embrace it too. I’m the last in my family, the youngest in my family, to get married and she’s the first and she’s the youngest in her family, so we have a whole slew of cousins, brothers, aunts and uncles that want to be babysitters real soon. So we’ll work on that.

CQ: Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before! Hopefully they’re still there when the time comes to put their money where their mouth is.

SR: (laughing) That’s what I’m saying right? Talk is cheap!

CQ: Exactly. So what does Diablo think of her?

SR: Diablo? Without her, he’d be missing meals. He’d be sleeping outside. He’d feel like a second-class citizen. My girl’s put him on a pedestal. I mean that is her baby so the way she is with my dog, my best friend, I can only imagine what kind of mother she’s going to be.

CQ: He’s probably happier than anybody else that you married her.

SR: (laughing) No doubt, no doubt.

CQ: And now she’s there more often.

SR: Full-time.

CQ: That’s awesome for him!

SR: He’s the one that’s spoiled in this relationship. He’s the real winner.

CQ: (laughing) No kidding. You know, I was coming up with this list of questions and I was thinking, geez, he’s got a dog named Diablo, a car named Diablo, I think you should ask Kristie to change her name to Diablo and just ...

SR: Oh no, no, no (laughs) the Diablo is what I always dreamed and fantasized about as a little kid and it’s Diablo Lamborghini which is my dog’s name. I got him back in ‘91. At the time I couldn’t afford the car so I bought the dog. Fortunately at that young age of 24 – 25 I was driving around in a Ferrari Testarossa, which for me was a second-class car ‘cause I really wanted the Lamborghini Diablo. I couldn’t afford it back then, but through my relationship with my boy Dan – who I met right before pre-judging in ‘94, where I got second at the Olympia – the Diablo came to be a reality in the year 2000. Dan made it happen, he’s the one who got me in the car, and at the time there was nothing more fulfilling and satisfying. I don’t imagine the Mr. Olympia would have felt as good as me getting behind the wheel of that car!!

CQ: I think it would have been different – a different feeling.

SR: Well, certainly, the Olympia is something that you work for, maybe aspire towards, but this car was something that I never felt was reachable, never attainable. It’s one of those cars that are so far out of reach for a lot people, in terms of their lifestyle, that I would have had to hit the lottery to get one. But through my relationship and business dealings with Dan I was able to get the car and keep the dog at the same time!

CQ: (laughing) So did you let the dog in the car?

SR: Sure! My dog is my best friend man, he’s right there! He goes where I go!

CQ: Right on.

SR: At the end of the day it’s like a lot of stuff happens. I got the dog because I never felt I could get the car. Through hard work and perseverance not only could I get the dog, I got the car and I got the girl to go with it. The Olympia still eludes me but I think the better of an understanding you have of what the Olympia contest consists of, the easier it is to deal with not being able to attain it. There are some great bodybuilders that have never won it, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that they were great bodybuilders.

CQ: No, absolutely not – you’re right. And it’s different than other sports.

SR: Sure, it’s very subjective and opinionated. It may never happen for me but I can live with that. I don’t know that I would ever have been able to leave the face of the earth without the car.

CQ: When you got it did you have to learn how to drive it properly?

SR: No, man, I’m a car aficionado dude! I got into bodybuilding to make money and to be the best I could be but at the end of the day one of my first loves was cars. It’s kind of diminished now at the advanced age of 37, but bodybuilding provided me the means to satisfy my fascination with cars. The first car I actually paid for with my money was an ‘88 limited edition Corvette, then I went on to the 300E Mercedes in 1989, 1990 got the very first series that came out – the 500SL Mercedes – the new body style. In ‘91 I wound up getting the Porsche Carrera, and Ferrari Testarossa. I went on to get a BMW in ‘93 – a 535 BMW which I upgraded to a 740i. I got the S4 Lotus Esprit in 1994, the next year I went back to the 500 Mercedes SL, a white one. I got the Rolls Royce Corniche...

CQ: You did not!

SR: Yeah, well, I bought it from my Mom. My Mom had it and she wasn’t able to drive it cause it was broken and she didn’t have the money to fix it. I actually wound up giving my Mom my ‘88 Corvette, took the Rolls Royce, fixed it up and flossed around town for about 2 years. Then I had the Jeep Wrangler, the Jeep Cherokee, the Tahoe, the 500CL Mercedes, the Harley-Davidson F150 and the S430 Mercedes so I’ve had my share of cars believe me.

CQ: You’re a car freak – holy cow!

SR: Yeah, but it’s out of my system because the perspective of life now is, I’ve gotta make career moves that will affect the future of my family – and the possibility of children – and make a transition from bodybuilding when the time comes. So I did all that stuff when I was single and a lot of it was moving and shaking to make sure that I could get in and out of these cars that I liked, and that was all part of the excitement of being a young, up-and-coming, professional bodybuilder. But now it’s a business and the things I’m thinking about don’t involve a high-profile car. Four wheels and a chassis are all I need to get around these days. I’m thinking more long term now instead of what I look like driving down the street. Besides, after you’ve had a Diablo, there ain’t nowhere to go but down.

CQ: But you got rid of it?

SR: It’s not something you want to keep forever. Eventually you’re going to take a big hit, so you can’t keep it forever. It’s a phase, it’s not more important than my relationship, it’s certainly not more important than paying off my mortgage, it’s not more important than my future. You’ve got to know when to get in and get out of cars so you don’t get killed on the depreciation. I’m not attached to cars as much as I used to be – the pursuit of getting them, and having them in your collection. Once you’ve been there, having the Lamborghini and the Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche, Corvette, there’s really nothing else out there. The Hummer, the H2, is a nice car though. The gas prices are just keeping it unrealistic for me.

CQ: Why not go and win one?

SR: There’s a lot more to it than just going and winning it. I mean Jay Cutler pretty much had to skip the Olympia in order to go back over there and get another one, but that’s all planning. In the grand scheme of things there’s no guarantees competing to win anything.

Say what you will about Shawn, it’s clear that he has reached a stage in his life where he can look back, reflect, and learn. With his newfound faith and his new bride, he may very well not be the same Shawn Ray that the media and the Internet have shown us in the past. Shawn, it would seem, has come to learn that it is never too late to change your perspective on life, and make a better future for yourself, and your family.

Check back next week, for part 2 (of 3). Shawn on bodybuilding!