Heavy The father of a DWTS alum is opening up about his affair.
The father of season 31 “Dancing With the Stars” contestant Joseph Baena has a new docuseries out on Netflix that’s already creating some buzz.
Aptly titled “Arnold,” the docuseries features Arnold Schwarzenegger discussing various aspects of his personal life, including his affair with former housekeeper, Mildred Baena, with whom he fathered a secret child. At the time, Schwarzenegger was married to Maria Shriver.
“Maria and I went to counseling once a week and in one of the sessions the counselor said, ‘I think today Maria wants to be very specific about something. She wants to know if you are the father of Joseph.’ And I was like— I thought my heart stopped, and then I told the truth,” Schwarzenegger recalled, according to People magazine.
“‘Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son,'” he told his then-wife. “She was crushed because of that. I had an affair in ’96. In the beginning I really didn’t know. I just started feeling the older he got the more it became clear to me and then it was really just a matter of how do you keep this quiet? How do you keep this a secret?” he said.
Baena is very close to his mother and started having a relationship with his father later on in life. In 2022, he posted a tribute to his dad in honor of his birthday. “Thank you for inspiring me and others around the world to be better every day. I love you and I hope you have the best day. Cheers to 75 years young,” he captioned an Instagram post.
Heavy has reached out to a rep for Baena for comment on how the DWTS alum feels about his dad’s new docuseries.
Here’s what you need to know:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Called His Affair a ‘Major Failure’
Schwarzenegger’s affair became public in 2011. At the time, he issued a public apology for his actions in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
“After leaving the governor’s office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago. I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. 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,” he said.
Now, Schwarzenegger says the affair is still difficult for him to talk about.
“I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f*** up. Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The kids had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone,” he says in “Arnold.”
“I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life. People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures. This is a major failure. I had failures in the past in my career, but this is a whole different ball game, dimension of failure,” he adds.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Proud of His Son
Despite his regrets about how things happened in his life, Schwarzenegger makes it clear that he’s proud of Baena.
“It was wrong what I did. But I don’t want to make Joseph feel that he is not welcomed in this world — because he is very much welcomed in this world. I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man,” he says in “Arnold” (via People).
The docuseries is streaming on the heels of a report that Schwarzenegger’s other four kids with Shriver don’t have a relationship with Baena. A source told Page Six that while Baena and his dad are “close,” the relationship Baena has with his half-siblings, Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher, is basically non-existent.
“To be honest, the other kids don’t love Joe. It’s a shame as he’s a really good kid, and Arnold has always treated him like all his other kids — very fairly. But for whatever reason, the other kids take [the affair] out on Joe,” a source told the outlet.
Heavy previously reached out to a rep for Baena for comment on Page Six’s report and didn’t hear back.
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