Arnold Schwarzenegger shares details about 'crushing' moment he told ex-wife about love child

Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened up on the moment he told his ex-wife that he'd fathered a child with their housekeeper.

The Terminator star has releasing a documentary on Netflix about his life, including his career as a bodybuilder, his transformation into a Hollywood action star and his foray into politics.

Also mentioned in Arnold is his affair with Mildred Baena, the couple's housekeeper who gave birth to Schwarzenegger's son, Joseph Baena, in 1997.

He said they had originally assumed that Joseph was the son of Mildred's husband and she kept working for the Schwarzenegger family, but as time went by 'the more it became clear to me' that he was the father.

He said in the Netflix documentary: "It was then just a matter of 'how do you keep this quiet?'"

MediaPunch Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

The actor also opened up about the moment he had to come clean to his now ex-wife, Maria Shriver, during a marriage counselling session.

He said the marriage counsellor had said to him in 2011 that 'today Maria wants to be very specific about something' and that something was 'she wants to know if you're the father of Joseph'.

Schwarzenegger said: "I thought my heart stopped. And then I told the truth. 'Yes, Maria. Joseph is my son.' She was obviously crushed by that."

The affair had been revealed in that same year and Shriver filed for divorce shortly after.

Schwarzenegger had first met Shriver in 1977 at a tennis match and they became engaged in 1985, marrying a year later. They had four children together.

Netflix

Schwarzenegger has called the affair his 'biggest failure' and said he would 'have to live with that for the rest of my life'.

"I have caused enough pain for my family, because of my f**k up," he said.

"Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer, the kids had to suffer, Joseph, his mother, everyone."

While he called the affair 'a whole new dimension of failure', he said he was happy that he and his ex-wife were 'able to raise the kids well'.

He also spoke highly of Shriver, saying she was a 'good partner' and said they had managed to keep 'a really great relationship'.

The Total Recall actor also said that Joseph was 'developing into a fantastic human being' and that while the affair was 'wrong', he doesn't want his son to think he's 'not welcome', saying he'd become an 'extraordinary young man'.

Arnold releases on Netflix on 7 June.