Maria Shriver Details Breakdown on Hotel Floor After Arnold Schwarzenegger Affair - E! Online

Maria Shriver detailed her emotional breakdown in a hotel room after learning of Arnold Schwarzenegger's affair with their family's housekeeper Mildred Baena, who gave birth to Joseph Baena.

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Watch : Maria Shriver Details “Brutal” Divorce From Arnold Schwarzenegger

Maria Shriver is reflecting on the termination of her and Arnold Schwarzenegger's marriage.

The journalist said she had an emotional breakdown when she learned that the Terminator star—with whom she shares kids Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, 35, Christina Schwarzenegger, 33, Patrick Schwarzenegger, 31, and Christopher Schwarzenegger, 27—had an affair with the family housekeeper Mildred Baena and fathered a son named Joseph Baena, 27, as a result.

"As I sat on the hotel room floor in the dark, terrified and alone with tears streaming down my face," she wrote in an excerpt of her new book I Am Maria, obtained by People, "I thought to myself: Maria, this doesn't have to be the end of the you. It can't be the end of you. Make it a new beginning of you."

Still, she was "consumed with grief and wracked with confusion, anger, fear, sadness, and anxiety."

"It broke my heart, it broke my spirit, it broke what was left of me," Maria wrote of ending her 25-year marriage to the former Governor of California. "I was unsure now of who I was, where I belonged. Honestly, it was brutal, and I was terrified."

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Maria Shriver Details How “Brutal” Divorce From Arnold Schwarzenegger Left Her “Terrified”

The author filed for divorce from Arnold, 77, in 2011 after learning about his infidelity. According to Arnold, he confessed to the affair during a counseling session.

"I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f--k up," he admitted in his 2023 documentary Arnold. "Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer. The kids had to suffer. Joseph. His mother. Everyone."

The former couple—who maintain a cordial relationship—finalized their legal separation in 2021.

Mike Theiler/UPI/Shutterstock

And for Maria, her healing journey was almost as long as her divorce proceedings. As she put it in her book, out April 1, "I won’t bore and exhaust you with the details of my self-pity party. I'm also going to spare you a litany of all my trips to various therapists, healers, shamans, and psychics. I even went across the country to a cloistered convent."

Reflecting on the "mistakes" she's made in her life, Maria wrote a notable one was "thinking that someone outside of me could guarantee my safety, my worth, and my peace."

"I've also had to come face to face with other misguided beliefs—about aging, about being alone," she added. "I used to believe that if you didn’t have a partner, you must be unworthy and unloveable. I've learned that nothing could be further from the truth."

To learn more about the Schwarzenegger-Shriver family, keep reading.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger

Hasta la vista, baby…bottles! That’s because these days, the actor’s kids Katherine Schwarzenegger, Christina Schwarzenegger, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Chris Schwarzenegger (with ex-wife Maria Shriver) and Joseph Baena (with former housekeeper Mildred Baena) are all grown up.

So, these days, his favorite title is no longer dad—but grandpa to Katherine and husband Chris Pratt’s three kids together: Lyla, Eloise and Ford.

"It's the easiest thing to be a grandfather," Arnold told Jimmy Kimmel in 2022. "They come over to the house, you play with Lyla for around an hour or two, put her on the horse, put her with the dog. And after two hours, they leave."

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Maria Shriver

Maria wed Arnold in 1986, but filed for divorce in 2011 after she learned he had fathered a child through his affair.

And her son-in-law Chris applauds the way the former first lady of California and her ex co-parented in the spotlight.

"She and Arnold raised four amazing kids, and that's not always an easy thing to do," the Guardians of the Galaxy actor told Today in May 2024. "You see people in Hollywood or people who’ve got a lot of privilege, and they end up kind of raising rotten kids. So I just want to kind of ask her everything. ‘What’d you do? How did you not spoil them? How did you not ruin them?'"

The apparent secret, Chris added, "I think she holds them accountable. When Maria walks in the room, you stand up. She’s big on manners, and she’s big on accountability, and she's deeply rooted in her faith. These are all things that I definitely want to take and implement in the rearing of our children." 

Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Prime Video

Patrick Schwarzenegger

Born in 1993, Patrick is the oldest son of Arnold and Maria. And while having parents in the business is great and all, he's also credited his brother-in-law Chris with helping him nab one plum part.

"I remember when Chris said, 'Hey you know there's this young role, Donny Mitchell, you'll be the youngest in the platoon," Patrick told Jimmy Kimmel in 2022 of booking a gig in the Amazon Prime Video series The Terminal List. "'But if you want to get this role, I need you to go and try to get into character and really get this. I need you to gain 20 pounds and start tactical training, and know how they move, the body language, all this stuff.'" 

Having the chance to train with real-life Navy SEALs, he added, was "a dream come true." And more pinch-me moments have followed, with the actor going on to play Saxon Ratliff on The White Lotus and Tim Tebow in FX's American Sports Story.

But even with all his connections, Patrick makes it clear he puts in the hard work.

"I know there are people who’ll say I only got this role because of who my dad is," Patrick told The Sunday Times in February 2025 of his part on The White Lotus. "They’re not seeing that I’ve had 10 years of acting classes, put on school plays every week, worked on my characters for hours on end or the hundreds of rejected auditions I’ve been on."

Soon, he'll be taking on a new role: husband. He proposed to model Abby Champion in December 2023. 

Cleobella x Katherine Schwarzenegger

Katherine Schwarzenegger

Meanwhile, Katherine is the eldest of the Schwarzenegger kids overall, with Arnold and Maria welcoming her in 1989.

And now, The Gift of Forgiveness author has a family of her own with Chris, who she married in 2019 after a year of dating.

In 2020, they welcomed daughter Lyla. Little sister Eloise entered the world two years later followed by younger brother Ford in 2024.

"When I became a mother, I felt like everything in my life had led me right to that baby being put on my chest, and it was perfect," she wrote in a piece for her mother Maria's website. "Mom is the title I have always wanted and the role that I have looked forward to for as long as I can remember."

Plus, she has a bonus stepson Jack, whom Chris and ex-wife Anna Faris welcomed in 2012.

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Chris Pratt

For Chris, family always comes first.

However, he was upset when he received backlash in 2021 after he praised Katherine on Instagram for giving him a “gorgeous healthy daughter," with some social media users finding the post insensitive to Anna and Jack, who was born premature.

“A bunch of articles came out and said, ‘That’s so cringeworthy. I can’t believe Chris Pratt would thank her for a healthy daughter when his first child was born premature. That’s such a dig at his ex-wife,’" the Parks and Recreation alum told Men’s Health in 2022. “And I’m like, That is f--ked up. My son’s gonna read that one day. He’s 9. And it’s etched in digital stone. It really f--king bothered me, dude. I cried about it. I was like, I hate that these blessings in my life are—to the people close to me—a real burden.”

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Jack Pratt

Anna and Chris' son Jack was born about two months early in August 2012 and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit.

"The day came when I got to take Jack home,” the actress recalled at a 2021 event for the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth, “and the first years were filled with doctor's appointments, five surgeries, physical therapy, a lot of laughter—because Jack was and is the most adorable cutest thing I could ever have imagined.”

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Lyla Marie Schwarzenegger Pratt

A little more than a year after Katherine and Chris tied the knot, they welcomed daughter Lyla Maria Schwarzenegger Pratt in August 2020, her middle name a nod to Katherine’s mother.

And while Chris keeps much of his family life private, he did share that Jack was already acing his duties as the older sibling.

"He's really great with her,” the Jurassic World star told Entertainment Tonight in 2021. “She always wants to pull his glasses off his face, and he’s very patient with her. He’s a great big brother.”

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Eloise Christina Schwarzenegger Pratt

Fast-forward to March 2022, when Chris and Katherine grew their family with the addition of daughter Eloise Christina Schwarzenegger Pratt.

"I’m girl dad 2.0," the Zero Dark Thirty actor told E! in June 2022. "My oldest daughter is adjusting very well to being a big sister. At first, she was kinda like, ‘So, what’s the deal with that thing? What up with that? Look at me.’ And now, she’s very much embraced the idea. She constantly wants to hold her sister, and she’s just very, very sweet. That’s the stuff that’s important. It’s the stuff that life is made of, and I feel incredibly blessed and filled with joy.”

Instagram / Katherine Schwarzenneger

Ford Fitzgerald Schwarzenegger Pratt

On Nov. 8, 2024, Katherine and Chris welcomed their son Ford Fitzgerald Schwarzenegger Pratt.

"Mama and baby are doing well and Ford’s siblings are thrilled by his arrival," the couple wrote on Instagram a few days later. "We feel so blessed and grateful."

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images

Christopher Schwarzenegger & Christina Schwarzenegger

Christopher Schwarzenegger is Arnold and Maria's youngest son together, and Christina Schwarzenegger is their youngest daughter.

Born in 1997, Christopher has stayed largely out of the public eye. He is Vice Chair of the Special Olympics Founder's Council. According to his bio, Christopher is also the Director of Development at production company Indus Valley Media. He previously worked at creative content agency Malka as well as for sports psychologist Trevor Moawad and is a University of Michigan grad with a psychology degree.

As for Christina, born in 1991, she's an executive producer—with her past credits including the 2018 documentary Take Your Pills and 2022 doc Take Your Pills: Xanax.

Instagram / Joseph Baena

Joseph Baena

Joseph is Arnold's son from his affair with then-housekeeper Mildred Patricia Baena.While Joseph was born in 1997, Arnold didn't find out he was the father until much later.

"I had an affair in '96," The 6th Day alum said in his 2023 docuseries Arnold. "In the beginning, I really didn't know. I just started kind of feeling. The older he got, the more it became clear to me, and it was then just really a matter of how do you keep this quiet? How do you keep this a secret?"

While Arnold called the affair a "major failure" in his life, he noted that Joseph makes him proud.

"It was wrong what I did," he said in the doc. "But I don't want to make Joseph feel that he's not welcome in this world because he's very much welcome in this world. And I love him, and he's turned out to be an extraordinary young man."

Like his dad Arnold, Joseph is an actor and has a passion for fitness. He also works in real estate and competed on season 31 of Dancing With the Stars.

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Anna Faris

Chris and Anna tied the knot in 2009, but after eight years of marriage, they announced their breakup.

Anna (who was previously married to Ben Indra) hinted her life with Chris wasn’t as picture perfect as it may have seemed. 

“I'm sure things were more transparent with my relationship with Ben,” she said on a 2021 episode of her podcast Unqualified, “but with Chris, I think that we both protected that imagery even within our close circles."

And Anna—who is now married to cinematographer Michael Barrett—suggested being in the same industry as her exes didn’t help. 

“My two other marriages were with actors, and I don’t think we did a great job of eliminating competitiveness—or at least I didn’t,” she shared on another episode of her podcast later that year. “Being a proud person and not wanting to reveal vulnerability, any hints of competitiveness and comparison, I didn’t handle that very well, I don’t think, and I hope I’ve grown from that.”

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