Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened up about the affair he had and how he told his ex-wife about the baby which it resulted in.
The 75-year-old Terminator actor is set to reveal all in an upcoming Netflix docuseries looking at his 'multifaceted life and career, from bodybuilding champ to Hollywood icon to politician'.
Advert
No stone is left unturned, with Schwarzenegger going into the details of his affair while married to journalist Maria Shriver and the love child he had as a result.
Schwarzenegger and Shriver married in 1986, going on to have four children; Katherine, Patrick, Christopher and Christina.
However, during his 25-year marriage to the journalist, Schwarzenegger had an affair with housekeeper Mildred Baena in 1996 - the relationship leading to a son named Joseph.
Advert
The actor only admitted to having fathered the child in 2011 during a counselling session - his and Shriver's marriage already under strain as a result of Schwarzenegger being away from home a lot as Governor of California.
In a clip from the three-part Netflix docuseries, Schwarzenegger recalls: "One day, the counsellor said, 'Today Maria wants to be very specific about something.
"'She wants to know if you’re the father of Joseph’.
Advert
"I thought my heart stopped. And then I told the truth."
Not attempting to deny the accusation, Schwarzenegger says he simply responded: "'Yes, Maria. Joseph is my son'."
"She [Shriver] was obviously crushed by that," Schwarzenegger notes.
Advert
The actor-turned-politician claims he didn't even fully know Joseph was his son himself, but 'the older he got the more it became clear'.
Schwarzenegger currently has a relationship with Joseph as well as his children from his marriage to Shriver.
However, he regrets how 'everyone had to suffer' when news of the affair came out.
In the clip, the action movie star resolves: "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. [...] I’ve had failures in my career but this was a whole new dimension of failure. I am very happy within this sad story that Maria and I were able to raise the kids well.
Advert
"I think there’s nothing more important than to have a good partner by your side and, every step of the way, Maria was exactly that. We have a really great relationship. Any kind of special day we are all together as a family and everyone is really happy about that.
"But it’s not what it was, where we were all together under one roof as a family."
You can catch Arnold on Netflix from 7 June.
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships, Netflix, TV and Film
Poppy Bilderbeck