At one point Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver were one of Hollywood's most popular couples. They were a power couple, raising four children, who are now adults themselves, and walking amongst celebrities and politicians in their 25 years of marriage.
But a scandal, in the form of Schwarzenegger's infidelity with their housemaid, ultimately ripped them apart. Since then the ex-couple have filed for divorced and have had to resolve their relationship for their kids and themselves.
Both of them have changed over the years and they've been able to become friends again, spending time together with their family and no doubt preparing for their first grandchild.
How Their Marriage Ended
Who knew that in 1977, after Schwarzenegger and Shriver were first introduced, that the couple would get married nine years later. They came from completely different backgrounds and operated in separate socialite groups, Schwarzenegger from the bodybuilding/Hollywood sphere, and Shriver from the journalism and political worlds (due to her Kennedy blood).
So no one saw it coming when they clicked as a couple, but in 1986 they took their vows in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and three years later they welcomed their first child, Katherine.
They had three more children after that and as they were raising their family, Schwarzenegger announced that he wanted to run for Governor of California, a decision that Shriver was on the fence about.
"When he told me he was interested, I said I’d spent my whole life getting away from politics," Shriver told Oprah Winfrey in 2008. "I realized that if I said no, I’d be stopping my husband from achieving his dream. It was a catch-22. So I told Arnold that he should do what he wanted to do … Two months later, I was the Democratic First Lady of a Republican administration."
But Shriver supported her husband through the whole process, even defending him during his first campaign after allegations that he'd mistreated women surfaced. But throughout his run as Governor there looked to be some differing of views on politics with the couple.
Shriver endorsed Barak Obama in the 2008 elections while Schwarzenegger endorsed John McCain. Later though, 2011 proved to be the real make or break year as Schwarzenegger divulged a secret he'd been keeping for a while.
The secret being; that he'd had an affair with the family's housekeeper, Mildred Patricia Baena, around 1996, while his wife and children were away. But Baena soon became pregnant and Schwarzenegger thought it was her husband's son, not his.
At the same time, Shriver was pregnant with their youngest child Chris, who was born a short time apart from his unsuspected half-brother Joeseph. Schwarzenegger was in denial of his parentage for a while but when the boy started to look like him, there was no doubt.
After his two terms as Governor came to an end, the scandal was revealed, and Shriver immediately moved out and into a Beverly Hills hotel.
Later on, they announced their separation with the statement citing, "At this time, we are living apart while we work on the future of our relationship," and quickly after that, it was revealed that the cause of the split was due to the affair.
At the time Schwarzenegger said that he'd come to his wife to tell her, saying in his statement, "There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused." But other sources have said that Shriver knew about the affair the whole time.
In Schwarzenegger's book, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, he recalled an interview with Good Morning America in which he was asked if Shriver had ever come to him about the affair and child years before. He said yes, she had, but he didn't tell her because he was embarrassed.
"Well, I just didn’t know how to. I was just, I think, too scared about losing everything, losing her, losing the family. I just didn’t know how."
Looking back at the scandal, Schwarzenegger told Howard Stern, "I had personal setbacks, but this was, without any doubt, the biggest setback and the biggest failure. Without any doubt. Not only failure, but you feel like, 'I'm to blame for it. It was me that screwed up.' And you can't point the finger at anyone else. So yeah, I was disappointed in it. It's always easy to be smart in hindsight. The thing was, how do you make the best of that situation?"
Schwarzenegger and Shriver Still Have A Good Relationship And Even Get Their Toes Done Together
Since the couple did not have a prenup when they filed for divorce in 2011, it has taken years to split their combined $400 million. Things are still not quite finalized, but the pair have been able to move on and start the next phase of their relationship as friends.
Despite being split since 2011, they have always supported each other in any way and still come together for birthdays, holidays, and even get pedicures together. They took their daughter Christina to get their feet done back in 2018, and then in 2019, they were spotted back at the nail salon together, this time with both of their daughters.
This past Father's Day, Shiver, and their children all celebrated with Schwarzenegger together, and just a couple of days ago was Schwarzenegger's 73rd birthday and once again Shriver was the family was there to help him celebrate. Even though their marriage is 'terminated', at least, after everything, they're still able to spend time as a family.
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