When you tell a Kennedy that you have a child with the housekeeper: “I destroyed her”

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the last signing of Netflix. The actor and former governor of California will be the protagonist of the platform’s new documentary series, Arnoldwhich opens next Wednesday, June 7 and in which he talks about his career in Hollywood, politics and his personal scandals, including the moment he revealed to his family that he had had a son with the housekeeper: “I destroyed my wife.”

It will be in the third episode, since the first is dedicated to his stage as a bodybuilder and the second to his career in Hollywood, from Conan the barbarian until Fubar, his latest series, which he has already shot at the age of 75 for Netflix. Some of his most famous companions on the big screen take part in this: Linda Hamilton, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Jamie Lee Curtis or director James Cameron.

Youtube Video

The latest installment focuses on his years as governor of California, in which he had to face the biggest scandal of his entire career: his infidelity to his wife with the housekeeper, Mildred Baena, from whom an unrecognized son was born. until then, Joseph Baena. It was in 2011. At the time, Schwarzenegger had been married to Maria Shriver Kennedy, with whom he had four children. Now, Arnold has revealed how he recognized everything: “María and I went to couples therapy once a week and in one of the sessions, the therapist said: ‘I think today María wants to be very specific about something. She wants to know if you are the father of Joseph. I thought my heart stopped, and then I told the truth,” he says in the documentary. “She was devastated. I had an affair in ’96. At first I didn’t really know. I started to feel it the older she got. Then I just thought, ‘How do you keep this a secret?’

The interpreter affirms that he does not like to talk about it because it “reopens old wounds”: “I think I already caused my family enough pain. Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The children had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone “, he confesses. “I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life. People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures. This is a huge failure.”

After the storm, the calm

Despite everything, Schwarzenegger maintains an excellent relationship with his son Joseph: “He is a fantastic man. What I did was wrong, but I do not want Joseph to feel that he is not welcome in this world, because he is. I love him and it has turned out be an extraordinary young man.” And also with María, his ex-wife, who asked for a divorce after his confession: “There is nothing more important than having a good partner by your side, and every step of the way María was that. We have a really great relationship”, says.

The first months were difficult, but both made efforts to maintain a cordial relationship for the sake of their four children: “We do not all live under the same roof but we are a family. I love my ex-wife, we are very good friends and very close, and we are very proud of the way we raised our children. There are no dramas: we celebrate Christmas together, Thanksgiving, every birthday…” Now Arnold is happy with her girlfriend, physical therapist Heather Milligan, twenty years his junior: “I have a wonderful girlfriend. I’m proud of her and I love her.”