It’s been more than a decade since former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger split from his wife, Maria Shriver, amid a shocking infidelity scandal. But it was only this month that “The Terminator” star officially cut ties with his ex after a long, drawn-out divorce proceeding. This was allegedly due to “lack of motivation.”
Surprisingly, the couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement when they wed in 1986, which was part of the reason their divorce took so long to finalize. The Daily Mail reported that the couple had a combined net worth of more than $400 million which included multiple properties. Dividing and settling those assets took a long time. The pair originally filed for divorce in July 2011.
Now the settlement was finally reached, though the details are not public. According to TMZ, a private judge mediated and signed off on the divorce earlier in December 2021. Joint properties included an extravagant Brentwood mansion, a holiday home in Idaho, and several investment properties that Schwarzenegger had amassed over the years.
The reason for the couple’s split was embarrassingly public. Tabloids touted how Schwarzenegger had fathered a child with the family housekeeper, Mildred Patricia ‘Patty’ Baena. That child, Joseph Baena, was born only days before the former governor’s wife Shriver gave birth to their fourth child in 1997.
The scandal came to light 14 years after it happened when Shriver confronted her husband with her suspicions. In May 2011, the world learned that Joseph was truly Schwarzenegger’s biological son. The “Terminator” star said he only learned of the truth himself when the boy was around eight years old and started looking more like him. According to the Mail, Shriver was especially hurt because she considered Patty a good friend and felt betrayed by both her husband and Patty.
Later, the former bodybuilder told Howard Stern that losing Shriver was his “biggest failure.”
“I had personal setbacks, but this was, without any doubt, the biggest setback and the biggest failure. Without any doubt,” the former governor told Stern in 2015. “Not only failure, but you feel like, ‘I’m to blame for it. It was me that screwed up.'”
He continued, insisting that he accepted blame for the situation. “And you can’t point the finger at anyone else. So yeah, I was disappointed in it. But it’s always easy to be smart in hindsight. The thing was how do you make the best of that situation.”
Now Shriver and Schwarzenegger are officially split. Both had already moved on with new relationships while remaining friendly with each other for the sake of the children. The former body builder has been dating physical therapist Heather Milligan for more than eight years. Meanwhile, Shriver was in a relationship with political pundit Matthew Dowd for several years.
Schwarzenegger maintains a relationship with his illegitimate son Joseph and has been photographed working out with him. He also provided financial support to Patty and Joseph, purchasing them a four-bedroom home in Bakersfield after Patty divorced her husband in the wake of the affair.