Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened up about the moment he confessed to his ex-wife, Maria Shriver, that he had a secret child with the housekeeper, Mildred Baena. The 'Terminator' actor premieres this June 7 his documentary 'Arnold' on Netflix where he talks about the most important aspects of his life.
Arnold Schwarzenegger premieres on June 7 on Netflix the documentary 'Arnold' where he takes a tour of the most important aspects of his life, from his career as an athlete, his arrival in Hollywood, and his personal and political life of he.
But if there is a moment that the Austrian actor's life collapsed, it was when Schwarzenegger had to publicly confess that he had an illegitimate child. A boy named Joseph Baena was born from his extramarital affair with his housekeeper, Mildred Baena, and came into the world just a few days after the fourth child of the 'Terminator' actor, Christopher Schwarzenegger.
Although, one of the hardest moments in this matter was when he had to reveal to his then-wife, Maria Shriver, that he had a secret son. "María and I went to therapy once a week," he begins by saying in the documentary, "and in one of the sessions the counselor said: 'I think today María 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," he recalls,
"'Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son,'" she assured. "She was devastated. I had an affair in '96. At first,then-wife I didn't really know. I started to feel like the older I got, the clearer I became and then it was just a matter of…how do you keep this a secret?".
Arnold Schwarzenegger says that he is usually very "reluctant to talk about it because every time I do, the wounds open up again." "I think I caused my family enough pain by my blunder. Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The children had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone," he explains.
In addition, the actor proceeds to talk about his son Joseph and assures that he is a "fantastic man" who "makes me proud": "What I did was wrong. But I do not want Joseph to feel that he is not welcome in this world, because he is very welcome in this world. I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man."
He also comments on how "happy" he is that he and his ex-wife managed to handle the situation, despite the difficulties, and that they "were able to raise the kids really well" amid "this sad story."
"There is nothing more important than having a good partner by your side, and every step of the way Maria was that. We have a really great relationship," he says. "Any kind of special day, we're all together as a family. But it's not what it was when we were all together under one roof as a family. That's not the case anymore."
"[The divorce] was very, very difficult at first. Eventually, you move on. I have a wonderful girlfriend, Heather Milligan, who is very successful. I'm very proud of her and I love her," he says of his current relationship with a physical therapist. "At the same time, I love my wife. She and I are very good friends and we are very close, we are very proud of the way we raised our children."
"Even though we had this drama, we celebrated Easter together, Mother's Day together, Christmas together, all birthdays, everything together," he details. "If there's an Oscar for handling divorce, Maria and I should get it for having the least impact on children."
