New York, New York - Hollywood star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hit back at President Donald Trump's recent comments on climate change.

During an appearance on CNN alongside former UK prime minister Tony Blair, Schwarzenegger reacted to Trump's address to the UN General Assembly earlier this week, during which the president called climate change a "scam" and a "con job."

"Well, I'm not surprised that he said that," Schwarzenegger said. "The bottom line is that he just never believed in it."

The bodybuilding legend revealed that he was friendly with Trump before the 2016 presidential election, but refused to endorse him because of concerns about his climate change denial.

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"I said to myself, 'OK, then I cannot really go and be on his team,'" Schwarzenegger explained. "I'm a big believer that we have to do something about reducing pollution, and we have to do something about, you know, having people die."

"I felt very strongly about what the way I was thinking, and I totally understand that not everyone has to think like me," he said.

"But what is important is that we let people know, okay, so that's how our president feels. But that doesn't mean we should stop everything."

Schwarzenegger, a former Republican himself, said that things need to change in how climate change is communicated to the public.

In particular, he said that a greater emphasis should be placed on "fighting pollution."