Arnold Reveals Wife's Confrontation Over Lovechild

Published
Getty Images

In his new autobiography, Arnold Schwarzenegger describes exactly how his ex-wife Maria Shriver confronted him about fathering a child with the family's housekeeper.

The former California governor explains that Shriver called a meeting with a family therapist right after he left office in January 2011. "The minute we sat down, the therapist turned to me and said, 'Maria wanted to come here today and to ask about a child -- whether you fathered a child with your housekeeper Mildred,'" Schwarzenegger writes in the book, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, according to a transcript obtained by ABC News.

VIDEO: Arnold on Relationship with Maria After Scandal

"I told the therapist, 'It's true,'" the Expendables 2 star reveals. In the book -- due out next week -- Schwarzenegger reportedly recounts that he had sex with housekeeper Mildred Baena in 1996 in the family guest house while his wife and the kids were away on vacation.

VIDEO: Arnold on His Smooth Transition Back into Acting

The star says he tried for years to convince himself that Baena's husband was the father of the child, but eventually he had to face the truth when the boy grew up with obvious resemblance to Schwarzenegger. "Instead of doing the right thing, I'd just put the truth in a mental compartment and locked it up where I didn't deal with it every day," he writes.

Racy Pics: Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wild Hollywood Past

According to the advance transcript, Schwarzenegger started to try to win back Shriver after the lovechild secret was out, telling his wife he had "screwed up" and that she was the "perfect wife." Schwarzenegger, 65, issued a public statement in May 2011 admitting that he had fathered the male child 14 years earlier. The couple announced their separation the same month and Shriver later filed for divorce.