LOS ANGELES — Former California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned
he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run
for office — with a longtime member of their household staff.
Shriver moved out of the family’s Brentwood mansion
earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The
staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.
“After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife
about this event, which occurred over a decade ago,” Schwarzenegger said
Monday night in a statement issued to the Los Angeles Times in response
to questions. “I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and
disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I
take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized
to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.
“I ask that the media respect my wife and children
through this extremely difficult time,” the statement concluded. “While I
deserve your attention and criticism, my family does not.”
A spokesman for the former first lady said she had no comment.
Since leaving office, Schwarzenegger has maintained a
high public profile, meeting with world dignitaries, attending a White
House summit on immigration and working to revive his movie career.
To protect their privacy, the Times is not publishing
the former staffer’s name nor that of her child, now a teenager. In an
interview Monday before Schwarzenegger issued his statement, the former
staffer said another man — her then-husband — was the child’s father.
She said she voluntarily left her position with the
couple earlier this year after reaching a longstanding goal of working
for them for two decades. “I wanted to achieve my 20 years, then I asked
to retire,” she said, adding she received a severance payment and “left
on good terms with them.”
Later Monday, the Times informed the woman of the governor’s statement and she declined to comment further.
Schwarzenegger took financial responsibility for the
child from the start and continued to provide support, according to a
source who declined to be identified because of the former governor’s
request for privacy.
The former first couple of California announced their
separation in a joint statement issued last week. The two have been
married 25 years. There was no mention of a cause for the separation.
In keeping with their very public — and political —
lives, two distinctly different portraits of the marriage and its status
have emerged in the days since the breakup became public.
Schwarzenegger, 63, suggested that the split was
temporary and the couple were working toward reconciliation. “We both
love each other very much,” the former governor said at an appearance
last week at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “We are very
fortunate that we have four extraordinary children and we’re taking one
day at a time.”
Friends of Shriver, 55, offered a grimmer assessment,
saying she had been unhappy for years but made no move until after her
parents died and Schwarzenegger finished his term as governor. Her
father, Sargent Shriver, died Jan. 18, nearly a year and a half after
the death of her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
The marriage between Shriver and Schwarzenegger —
pairing one of Hollywood’s top box office draws and a member of one of
America’s most storied Democratic political clans — has long been a
subject of public interest.
As an actor, Schwarzenegger reveled in his macho
image. But his behavior became an issue during his first campaign for
governor, in the 2003 recall election, when more than a dozen women said
he had groped them over a period of many years.
Schwarzenegger at first denied the allegations, then
apologized. Shriver offered a timely and politically crucial defense of
her husband, vouching for his personal integrity.
After his landslide election, she emerged as one of
the most visible first ladies in California history, maintaining a high
profile as she promoted volunteerism and directed a wildly popular
annual conference on women.
Although friends of the couple speak of difficulties
in their marriage throughout Schwarzenegger’s governorship, any tensions
were kept out of public view. The two have four children together, ages
21 to 13.
Once Schwarzenegger left office in January, the two
effectively began leading separate lives. Schwarzenegger has been
jetting around the world, heading to Brazil’s Xingu River with director
James Cameron, to London for Mikhail Gorbachev’s 80th birthday party, to
Val d’Isere in France for skiing.
Schwarzenegger, who had to put aside acting and his
business interests while serving in Sacramento, quickly plunged back
into those pursuits.
Last week, a bidding war took place at Cannes to make
two more installments of the “Terminator” franchise starring
Schwarzenegger, and the former governor also signed to star in a third
movie. He is working on an animated children’s series based on his life
and also exploring real estate and other business investments.
He has traveled the globe — apart from Shriver —
delivering high-priced speeches and also participated in a White House
summit on immigration reform. He is expected to pen his memoirs soon.
Shriver, a longtime television journalist who gave up
her job at NBC when Schwarzenegger took office, has worked on her
women’s empowerment website, guest-edited an issue of Oprah Winfrey’s
magazine and promoted causes such as Alzheimer’s research (her father
suffered from the disease). She also took her son, Patrick, and some of
his friends on an East Coast college tour in April.
Last Friday, after the couple’s separation was made
public, Shriver sent a Twitter message to her followers, which number
more than 750,000: “Thank you all for the kindness, support and
compassion. I am humbled by the love. Thank you.”
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