Jonathan Mendelsohn
In the new Netflix docuseries Arnold, the beloved action hero and former governor discussed the heartbreaking moment when his ex-wife Maria Shriver found out that he fathered a child with their housekeeper, Mildred Baena. In Arnold, which will premiere on Netflix on June 7, Schwarzenegger revealed how Shriver found out that Joseph Baena, now a 25-year-old actor, is his son.
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In the upcoming docuseries, Schwarzenegger says, “Maria and I went to counseling once a week, and in one of the sessions the counselor said, ‘I think today Maria wants to be very specific about something. She wants to know if you are the father of Joseph.’ And I was like— I thought my heart stopped, and then I told the truth.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Heartbreaking Revelations
In the new documentary, Schwarzenegger continues, “‘Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son.’ She was crushed because of that. I had an affair in ’96. In the beginning I really didn’t know. I just started feeling the older he got the more it became clear to me and then it was really just a matter of how do you keep this quiet? How do you keep this a secret?”
Schwarzenegger and Shriver are reportedly on good terms as of now. The Terminator star has a close relationship with Joseph, who will be seen in the upcoming action film Gunner, but is more distant with the four adult children he shares with Shriver.
During the emotional interview, Schwarzenegger added that he was “reluctant talking about it because every time I do it opens up the wounds again. I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f— up. Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The kids had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone.” Together, Schwarzenegger and Shriver share Katherine, 33, Christina, 31, Patrick, 29, and Christopher, 25.
He continued, “I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life. People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures. This is a major failure. I had failures in the past in my career, but this is a whole different ball game, dimension of failure.”
