Arnold Schwarzenegger Single Again After Finalization of Divorce From Maria Shiver: Why Did Ex-Power Couple Split?
Arnold Schwarzenegger is officially a single man again after Maria Shriver's filing has been finalized after a decade.
Court sources confirmed to multiple media outlets, including Fox News, that Schwarzenegger and Shriver finally reached the end of their divorce battle. It took them a decade to finalize their split due to the duo's issues on property settlement.
Initially, a private judge already approved their divorce earlier this month. However, the papers were needed to be signed off by a sitting judge. The court records detailed that the private judge was first appointed on November 10 while the sitting judge from Los Angeles Superior Court, who finally dissolved the former power couple's marriage, signed the document on Tuesday.
Schwarzenegger and Shriver, despite their divorce, remain on good terms that they always appear together in family gatherings and events with their four kids.
Why Schwarzenegger and Shriver Divorced
The finalization of their split came years after a revelation about the actor fathering a child with their housekeeper emerged.
Shriver filed for divorce soon after learning that her husband and their housekeeper, Mildred Patricia "Patty" Baena, had an extramarital issue. The actor and Baena's child, Joseph Baena, was born on Oct. 2, 1997 - days after Shriver gave birth to their fourth child, Christopher.
The matriarch issued a heartbreaking statement after the news, saying she did not know about it until May 2011.
"This is a painful and heartbreaking time. As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment," she said, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
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The affair reportedly began in 1996 when Schwarzenegger stayed behind while shooting a movie and his family was on vacation. The actor initially believed that Baena's husband was the father of the child. However, he realized the truth after Joseph started to resemble him.
Baena retired in 2011, telling LA Times that she left on good terms with the family despite what happened.
Shriver, on the other hand, waited until after Schwarzenegger ended his term as California's governor before confronting him.
"The minute we sat down, the therapist turned to me and said, 'Maria wanted to come here today and to ask about a child - whether you fathered a child with your housekeeper Mildred (Baena)," Schwarzenegger wrote in "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."