Arlen was born on December 3, 1991 to Bruce and Nancy Shevell Blakeman in New York. He was named after his maternal grandmother, Arlene Walters Shevell, who passed away on April 27, 1991 (he was born 7 months later). Arlen has a history of a heart problem. In 1996, Nancy battled breast cancer and survived. His parents separated and later divorced in December 2008. Nancy started to date Paul McCartney in November 2007 and they got engaged and married in 2011; Nancy regularly divides her time in New York for her son and her trucking business and England.  His father Bruce remarried Segal Magori in May of 2015 and Arlen graduated from college that same year with both his parents and stepparents in attendance. Arlen is now in another college in New York City for a lawyer and has an internship at a law company.