Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls crushing moment he told Maria Shriver about affair with housekeeper

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Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed ex-wife Maria Shriver was "crushed" when she found out about the actor's 1996 affair with the couple's housekeeper in the new Netflix docuseries "Arnold."

Schwarzenegger's affair with Mildred Baena made the actor-turned-politician a father, but Shriver didn't find out until 2011 during a couple's counseling session.

"Maria and I went to counseling once a week," Schwarzenegger recalled in the docuseries, out June 7, via People magazine.

"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."

Maria Shriver didn't find out about Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1996 affair until 2011. (Getty Images)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'S CO-STAR REVEALS ACTION STAR'S HIDDEN ON SET TALENT

Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a son, Joseph Baena, with his housekeeper Mildred Baena. (Getty Images)

"She was crushed because of that. I had an affair in ’96. In the beginning I really didn’t know," the actor admitted. "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?"

Talking about his "f--- up" often "opens up the wounds again."

"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 said in the Netflix doc.

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Maria Shriver filed for divorce from Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2011. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

After the revelation, the journalist promptly filed for a divorce. However, Shriver and Schwarzenegger's property settlement kept the divorce from being finalized until 2021.

The former couple, who were married for 25 years before separating, share four children of their own: Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher.

Arnold Schwarzenegger shares four children with Maria Shriver. (Richard Shotwell/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

"I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life," Schwarzenegger said in the docuseries. "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."

The Netflix docuseries "Arnold" follows Schwarzenegger's acting career and his transition into politics. It also explores the actor's personal life and scandals.

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