LOS ANGELES (AP) ― He’s one of the most famous people on the planet, a two-term governor of California, a movie star and a former world champion bodybuilder with a profile so huge that just one name, Arnold, instantly identifies him to almost everyone.
Yet somehow, for more than a decade, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to keep an incredible secret from the public and his wife, prominent former TV journalist and Kennedy heiress Maria Shriver: that he fathered a child with a woman on his household staff more than a decade ago.
Oprah Winfrey (left) and Maria Shriver. (AP-Yonhap News)
The revelation came Tuesday, just a week after Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced they had separated.
“I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family,” Schwarzenegger wrote in a statement. “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.”
Hours later, Shriver also released a statement: “This is a painful and heartbreaking time. As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment.”
Two of their four children posted on Twitter, expressing their love for their family.
“Some days you feel like s..., some days you want to quit and just be normal for a bit,” tweeted 17-year-old Patrick Schwarzenegger, quoting the band Fort Minor’s heartbreak song “Where’d You Go.” Adding his own words, he said, “Yet I love my family till death do us apart.”