Schwarzenegger fathered a child with longtime member of household staff

Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, moved out of their Brentwood mansion earlier this year after the former governor acknowledged the child was his. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

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."

Photos: A political marriage with star power

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victoria.kim@latimes.com.

Times staff writers Seema Mehta, Nathaniel Popper, Maeve Reston, Harriet Ryan and Abby Sewell contributed to this article.

Comments (655)

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gustavo.gutierrez.junior at 7:24 AM May 18, 2011

Let this be a lesson: if you're a wife of a politician accused of sexual impropriety, DON'T stand by your man. Let him deal with the political mess, keep a low profile!

hellohello1 at 8:42 PM May 21, 2011

Who is more selfish or doing more damage here, Arnold or the reporter leaking the story?

Yes Arnold made some terrible mistakes and have treated the people around him like dirt but the reporter is intentionally making the situation much worse for all the kids involved here. The reporter who leaked the story decided at some point that the benefits to him/herself are greater than the damage these kids have to go through now. I believe the kids are innocent and for the reporter to not take this into consideration is ethically on par with Arnold's behavior. Both are simply two very selfish human beings who would do anything to prioritize their own careers, even over an innocent child.

bobmom at 10:24 AM May 19, 2011

Another public figure brought low by the power of the vagina. "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

Arnold already knew this and he also had to know it would all blow up in his face eventually.

But, he kept on smilin', cause when your smilin' , the whole world smiles with you.

Guess who'll come out on top?

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