Hashing out the past. While Arnold Schwarzenegger has been candid about the affair that led to his divorce from Maria Shriver, his family hasn’t been as open.
The Terminator actor and the journalist — who share children Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher — called it quits in 2011 after 25 years of marriage. At the time, Shriver learned that her then-husband fathered a child, Joseph Baena, with their longtime housekeeper, Mildred Baena. As news broke of the former governor’s infidelity, he publicly apologized for his actions.
“There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.”
Shriver, for her part, revealed more than a decade later she sought out help from a convent following her split from Schwarzenegger.
“The reverent mother there said to me at the very end, she said, ‘I think you came here looking for permission,’” the I’ve Been Thinking author said to Hoda Kotb during a February 2023 appearance on her “Making Space” podcast. “I felt like I was in a scene out of the Sound of Music. She goes, ‘You can’t come live here … but you do have permission to go out and become Maria.’ I was sobbing. I was like, ‘Who is that?’”
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Us Weekly confirmed in December 2021 — 10 years after their initial split — that the twosome finalized their divorce.
Despite the messy separation, the Predator star and Shriver navigated their new normal as coparents to their four children. Schwarzenegger later joked about how he and his ex-wife deserved an Oscar for their efforts to maintain a healthy dynamic for their kids.
“We are very proud of the way we raised our kids,” he recalled to The Hollywood Reporter in May 2023. “Even though we had this drama, we did Easter together, Mother’s Day together, the Christmases together, all birthdays — everything together.”
While he maintained a close bond with his and Shriver’s children, it took a little longer for the True Lies actor and Joseph to form a strong connection. Joseph, for his part, confessed that he was often “nervous” that Schwarzenegger would “think bad of” him at first.
“[I didn’t want him to] be like, ‘What the heck is this guy doing? He’s just partying all the time,’” the Dancing With the Stars alum said during a January 2022 episode of the “Unwaxed” podcast.
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Keep scrolling to see what Schwarzenegger and his family have said about his affair over the years: