Arnold Schwarzenegger confesses affair with housekeeper was a mistake

02 October 2023 , 17:21

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Arnold had an affair with his housekeeper in the 1990s (Image: Getty Images)

Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed he’s still on good terms with ex-wife Maria Shriver, and called his affair with their housekeeper a “f**k up”.

The Hollywood action hero hit the headlines in 2011 when it was announced he and Maria were divorcing, as he had fathered another child, Joseph, with their housekeeper Mildred Baena. Arnold and Mildred began their relationship in 1996, and one year later, Joseph was born - just days after the actor and Maria welcomed their fourth child, Christopher. The couple, who had wed in 1986, attended marriage counselling in 2011, which led to Arnold confessing he had an extra-marital affair with Mildred, and he was Joseph's father.

Maria filed for divorce shortly afterwards, but the Terminator star insisted they have a good relationship. “Remember, it’s not like we had a feud. We didn’t have a fight. It’s just my f**k up, right? We always made it very clear that the kids should not suffer because of that,” the former bodybuilder told People. The former couple share four children - Katherine, 33, Christina, 32, Patrick, 30, and Christopher, 26 - and Arnold said they “always communicate about the kids, about the holidays, about birthday parties and Mother’s Day parties and Christmas.” He said he feels nothing but love for his ex-wife, and sweetly added: “My chapter with Maria will continue on forever.”

Arnold and Maria ended their 25-year marriage in 2011, after he confessed to an affair (WireImage)

The 76-year-old has previously spoken about his tryst with the family’s former housekeeper, and in an interview in 2017, he said he was fed up of “beating myself up” over it and wanted to move forward. “You can't go back - if I could, in reality, be Terminator, of course I would go back in time and would say, 'Arnold … no,'” he told Men’s Journal, adding that it was “not the way it works”. In the recent Netflix documentary about the iconic movie star, the Austrian-born actor recalled the moment Maria discovered the truth about Joseph, and that the teenager was in fact Arnold's illegitimate son.

Joseph Baena with dad Arnold (Instagram)

“I thought my heart stopped,” the True Lies star said, as he recalled being asked by their marriage counsellor if he was the father of Joseph, who was then 14. “And then I told the truth.” The couple’s 25-year marriage came to an end following Arnold’s revelation, but they only had their divorce finalised in 2021 as it emerged they did not have a prenuptial agreement in place when they tied the knot. Following their split, Arnold began dating physical therapist Heather Milligan, who is 27 years his junior, while Maria, 67, was in a relationship with political analysts Matthew Dowd, but it was reported they had split in 2020.

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He spoke briefly about his relationship with Heather, and said she was “unbelievable”, and they had so many things in common, despite the age difference. He said she helped him while he was filming his 2013 movie Escape Plan, and he took her out to lunch once the project had wrapped as a thank you. “And then one thing led to the next. Our relationship is fantastic. I think the world of her,” he swooned.

Emma Wilson