Arnold Schwarzenegger might be one of Hollywood’s most flourishing actors with a prolific career and booming net worth, but as glorious as his professional endeavors might be, the same can’t really be said for his personal life. If anything, he’s marinating in mistakes and regrets as far as the latter goes. A failed marriage borne out of infidelity will do that to you.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

The wound inflicted by infidelity is as it is, too nasty to heal.

But being cheated on with the house help? Now that’s likely to leave a scar ten times more brutal.

The Terminator star first crossed paths with his now ex-wife Maria Shriver, who happens to be the niece of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, during a 1977 tennis match.

In 1985, he got down on one knee for the proposal, and a year later, they had a romantic wedding ceremony in Massachusetts.

Arnold Schwarzenegger with his now ex-wife, Maria Shriver
Before they split, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife had been together for over two decades, tying the knot in 1986 and welcoming four children over the years, the picture of familial bliss.

But in 2011, Shriver filed for divorce after 25 years of marriage, which got finalized just a couple of years back in 2021.

The reason being? Her husband’s affair with their housekeeper.

A decade into their married life, the former governor of California cheated on his now ex-wife with Mildred Baena who worked at Schwarzenegger’s Brentwood mansion where he resided with his family.

A year after that, the former professional bodybuilder then became the father of Joseph Baena, who is presently 25 years old.

He Deemed the Affair His ‘Biggest Failure’  

In his forthcoming Netflix documentary titled Arnold, Schwarzenegger, 75, came clean about his past transgressions, recalling just how “crushed” his wife had been when he admitted the truth to her.

The Commando star also revealed that he wasn’t aware Joseph was his son when Mildred gave birth to him, believing him to be the offspring of the latter’s husband.

“In the beginning, I really didn’t know,” he said. “But the older he got, the more it became clear to me.”
The Schwarzenegger family
After all these years though, there’s nothing the politician regrets more than hurting his ex-wife and children, and his disgraced actions that eventually ended up breaking their family.

“I have caused enough pain for my family, because of my f**k-up. 

Everyone had to suffer,” Schwarzenegger lamented. “Maria had to suffer, the kids had to suffer, Joseph, his mother, everyone.” 

“I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life,” he stated.

Schwarzenegger shares two daughters, Katherine, 33, and Christina, 31, along with two sons Patrick, 29, and Christopher 25, with his ex-wife.