The motion star admits, in a brand new Netflix doc merely titled “Arnold”, that Shriver requested him level clean in the course of the remedy session if he was Joseph Baena‘s father. The boy’s mom, Mildred Baena, was one in every of their home employees.

The now 75-year-old tells all within the docu-series and recollects the second his ex spouse realized of the indiscretion.

“Maria and I went to counseling as soon as every week,” Arnold recounts, “and in one of many periods the counselor stated, ‘I feel right this moment Maria desires to be very particular about one thing. She desires to know if you’re the daddy of Joseph.’ And I used to be like— I believed my coronary heart stopped, after which I instructed the reality.”

“‘Sure, Maria, Joseph is my son,'” the “FUBAR” star says he instructed her. “She was crushed due to that. I had an affair in ’96. At first I actually didn’t know. I simply began feeling the older he bought the extra it turned clear to me after which it was actually only a matter of how do you retain this quiet? How do you retain this a secret?”

Nonetheless, Arnold says he’s “reluctant” for multiple cause to speak about this “failure” — initially as a result of “each time I do it opens up the injuries once more.”

“I feel that I’ve brought about sufficient ache for my household due to my f— up. Everybody needed to endure. Maria needed to endure. The children needed to endure. Joseph. His mom. Everybody,” he says, per People.

Amongst his kids with Maria, who he wed in 1986, are Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher. Schwarzenegger and Shriver ended their marriage in 2011, simply days earlier than it was publicly revealed he had fathered a baby (Joseph) with former family worker, Mildred. The revelation got here after his run as governor of California had simply ended.

“I’m going to need to stay with it the remainder of my life,” Arnold says within the doc. “Individuals will keep in mind my successes and they’ll additionally keep in mind my failures. This can be a main failure. I had failures prior to now in my profession, however it is a entire completely different ball sport, dimension of failure.”

Nonetheless, one more reason he says he not often talks concerning the affair is due to the “incredible” youngster that got here out of it.

“It was unsuitable what I did. However I don’t wish to make Joseph really feel that he’s not welcomed on this world — as a result of he’s very a lot welcomed on this world,” he says. “I like him and he has turned out to be a rare younger man.”

And regardless of the failure of the wedding, Arnold expresses his gratitude to Maria for locating a option to proceed to lift a profitable household with him.

“There may be nothing extra necessary than to have companion by your aspect, and each step of the best way Maria was that. We’ve a very nice relationship,” he says within the doc. “Any kind of big day, we’re all collectively as a household. But it surely’s not what it was once we have been all collectively below one roof as a household. That’s not the case anymore.”

Shriver, for her half, revealed in February whereas showing on an episode of the “Making Space with Hoda Kotb” podcast, that she had gone to a convent to hunt life recommendation after their marriage ended.

Their divorce was finalized in December 2021, ten years after they initially filed.

“Arnold” streams on Netflix beginning June 7.