Arnold Schwarzenegger Says His Divorce from Maria Shriver Was 'Very Difficult': 'It Was My Failure'
"Even though we had this drama, we did Easter together, Mother's Day together, the Christmases together, all birthdays — everything together," Schwarzenegger said in a new interview
Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting candid about his divorce from Maria Shriver.
The actor, 75, reflected on his "very difficult" split from his wife of 25 years and branded the divorce "my failure" in a new cover interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Tuesday.
Opening up about the similarities between himself and the character he plays in his new Netflix CIA series FUBAR, Schwarzenegger discussed whether his character Luke's marriage partly not working out because he cheated was "deliberately autobiographical."
Two months before Shiver, 67, filed for divorce in July 2011, Schwarzenegger publicly admitted he had fathered a son, Joseph Baena, 25, with the family's longtime housekeeper Mildred Baena.
"We were laughing about it — it feels like it's a documentary," he told THR. "The difference is, in the show, he doesn't consider it cheating because [seducing CIA assets] was part of his profession. His wife moved on because he never was home, and now he has this dilemma with the daughter because she has the same job and it's going to screw up her relationship, too. But in [my real-life marriage to Shriver], it was my f - - -up. It was my failure. Also, in the show, he's deep down still in love with his wife."
As for whether or not he misses being married, the former bodybuilder said, "No." "[The divorce] was very, very difficult in the beginning. Eventually, you move on. I have a wonderful girlfriend, [physical therapist] Heather Milligan, who is very successful. I'm really proud of her, and I love her."
Adding how he and Shriver navigated their split and co-parenting, he continued, "She and I are really good friends and very close, and we are very proud of the way we raised our kids. Even though we had this drama, we did Easter together, Mother's Day together, the Christmases together, all birthdays — everything together."
Related:Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver's Relationship Timeline
"If there's Oscars for how to handle divorce, Maria and I should get it for having the least amount of impact on the kids. The sweetness and kindness you see in them, that's from my wife. The discipline and work ethic is from me," he said.
The former couple share four children together — daughters Katherine, 33, and Christina, 31, and sons Patrick, 29, and Christopher, 25.
In February, Shriver also opened up about the pair's breakup and revealed that she went to a convent to seek life advice after their marriage ended.
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During an appearance on the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast, the journalist and author told host Hoda Kotb that she began feeling like she "had the freedom or permission" to be herself when she filed for divorce.
"I first felt like, 'Oh I'd better go and figure out like, what is the truth?' " Shriver said on the podcast. "I went to a convent — I did so many things — but one of the things I did is I went to a convent, a cloistered convent, to be in silence and look for advice."
"The Reverend Mother there said to me at the very end, she said — and I actually have written about this, but I haven't shared — she said, 'I think you came here looking for permission,' " Shriver continued to Kotb, 58.
"I felt like I was in a scene out of The Sound of Music," she added. "She says, 'You can't come live here, but you do have permission to go out and become Maria.' I was like, sobbing. I was like, 'Who is that?' "
Schwarzenegger and Shriver finalized their divorce in December 2021, ten years after announcing their separation.
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