Arnold Schwarzenegger Admits His Affair Is 'Major Failure' in His Life: 'Everyone Had to Suffer'
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"I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life," he said in his new Netflix docuseries
Netflix
Arnold Schwarzenegger is expressing regret about his affair and opening up about how it affected his family.
In the new Netflix docuseries Arnold, the Terminator actor, 75, recalled telling Maria Shriver about cheating on her with their housekeeper Mildred Baena, with whom he had son Joseph Baena, now 25.
Schwarzenegger married Shriver, now 67, in 1986 and they share four kids: Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher.
"I had to go to my kids and explain it to them. The reason I feel reluctant talking about it is because every time I do, it opens up the wounds again," he said in the docuseries. "I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f--- up."
Related: The Six Biggest Bombshells from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Revealing Netflix Docuseries
"Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The kids had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone," said Schwarzenegger. "I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life. People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures. This is a major failure."
He added, "I had failures in the past in my career, but this is a whole different ball game, dimension of failure."
Gold Wong/FilmMagic
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver in 2008Schwarzenegger made clear that he is "really proud" of Joseph.
"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," he said. "I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man."
The actor and former California governor said he is "very happy" that he and Shriver managed to "raise the kids really well" amid "this sad story."
Said Schwarzenegger, "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."
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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in May, Schwarzenegger said his divorce with Shriver was "very, very difficult in the beginning" but "eventually, you move on." Now, he's dating "wonderful" girlfriend Heather Milligan, a physical therapist.
"I’m really proud of her, and I love her," he said of Milligan. "At the same time, I love my wife. She and I are really good friends and very close, and we are very proud of the way we raised our kids. Even though we had this drama, we did Easter together, Mother’s Day together, the Christmases together, all birthdays — everything together."
"If there’s Oscars for how to handle divorce, Maria and I should get it for having the least amount of impact on the kids," he added.
Arnold is now streaming on Netflix.
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