Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving fans a glimpse into his life and career in a new documentary titled Arnold – which is available to stream on Netflix, as of June 7. The three-part series dives deep into the three primary stages of his life – his career as an athlete, his acting career, and his life as an American.
It’s in the third part of the series that Arnold talks about his marriage to Maria Shriver. The former couple started dating in 1977 and married on April 26, 1986, before welcoming four children together – daughters Katherine, 33, and Christina, 31, and sons Patrick, 29, and Christopher, 25 – between 1989 and 1997.
Their marriage took a turn for the worse when Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a child with their housekeeper, Mildred Patricia “Patty” Baena, in 1997 – the same year he welcomed his fourth child with Shriver. Arnold and Maria separated in May 2011 and their divorce was finalized in 2021.
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In the docuseries, Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls the moment he told his then-wife about his affair with their housekeeper. They were in couples counseling when Maria asked Arnold if Joseph – the son he fathered with Patty Baena – was his son. He said his heart stopped before he ultimately told the truth.
“’Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son,’” Arnold recalled. “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?”
He acknowledges and regrets how much pain he caused his family and is always hesitant to talk about his affair – because it ‘opens up the wounds again.’ And while the affair is something that happened more than 25 years ago, it’s something he knows will follow him throughout the rest of his life – and beyond.
“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,” he said of the affair. He’s now telling his story in hopes of encouraging and urging others to be and do better.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Describes Joseph as a ‘Fantastic Man’
Arnold Schwarzenegger went on to defend his son, Joseph, and praise him as a ‘fantastic man’ – adding he’s a proud father, regardless of his backstory. While he admits what he did was wrong, he doesn’t want his son to feel like he isn’t loved or welcome. Joseph turns 26 years old in a few months – on October 2.
“It was wrong what I did. But I don’t want to make Joseph feel that he is not welcomed in this world — because he is very much welcomed in this world,” Schwarzenegger said of Joseph – who is an actor, bodybuilder, and real estate agent. “I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man.”
Schwarzenegger also praised his ex-wife, Maria Shriver, for the relationship they have today. While nothing will ever mend what’s already broken, they always put their children first and maintain a strong co-parenting relationship to ensure they have everything they could possibly need at all times.
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“There is nothing more important than to have a good partner by your side, and every step of the way Maria was that. We have a really great relationship. Any type of special day, we are 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,” he said.