Arnold Schwarzenegger Says Ex-Wife, Maria Shriver, Was ‘Crushed’ His Affair With Housekeeper

Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about his life successes and failures in Netflix’s new docuseries, Arnold. 

“People will remember my success, and they will also remember my failures,” he says in the trailer.  

The Terminator star also opens up about the impact his affair with his housekeeper, Maria Baena, had on his ex-wife, Maria Shriver, and their children. Schwarzenegger and Shriver finalized their divorce in December 2021 and share four children: Katherine, 33, Christina, 31, Patrick, 29, and Christopher, 25. 

His affair resulted in the fathering of one child, now 25-year-old Joseph Baena. Baena has been following his father’s footsteps as he’s now trying his hand at acting and is also frequently seen flexing and toning his muscles for social media.

Schwarzenegger revealed in the docuseries that he confessed his affair during a marriage counseling session when the counselor told him Shriver wanted to know if he was Joseph’s father.

>WATCH MARIA SHRIVER’s uINTERVIEW NOW!

“‘Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son,'” he confessed. “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?”

“It was very tough on my marriage, on my relationship with the kids. I have caused enough pain for my family, I’m going to have to live with it for the rest of my life,” he added.  

Although he initially tried to hide that he was Joseph’s father, the former California governor said Joseph “makes [him] proud.”

Arnold premieres on Netflix on June 7.