Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals ex Maria Shriver 'hated' him running for Governor ... trends now
Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed ex Maria Shriver 'flipped out' when he announced his plans to run for Governor of California.
The action icon, 75, who was Governor of California from 2003 to 2011 before leaving office, said Shriver, 67, 'hated' the idea of him running, leading him to question whether it was the right decision to enter politics.
Speaking in his three part Netflix series, Arnold. he said: 'That’s why I didn’t really know if I was going to run because I didn’t really want to run if she was not 100 percent behind it.
'I was sitting with [Shriver] in a jacuzzi, and I said, "What do you think of me running for Governor?'" She flipped out.
'I almost felt like she was hyperventilating. She felt I have gone through this with my family. She had a very emotional reaction.
Intense reaction: Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed ex Maria Shriver 'flipped out' when he announced his plans to run for Governor of California (pictured 2003)
Candid: The action icon, 75, who was Governor of California from 2003 to 2011 before leaving office, said Shriver, 67, 'hated' the idea of him running , leading him to question whether it was the right decision to enter politics
'This would drag us through the mud. Therefore, I pulled back.'
Schwarzenegger, who split from Shriver in 2011 after it emerged he had fathered a son - Joseph Baena - with household employee Mildred Baena - said Shriver had a change of heart the morning he announced his intentions to run during an August 2003 appearance on The Tonight Show.
He said: 'The morning of The Tonight Show , Maria put a note under my door that said, "In case you decide to run here’s what I would say and here’s if you decide not to run what I would say"'.
'I felt like Maria for the first time was open to the idea.'
The actor recently recalled the moment he told Shriver, of his 1996 infidelity and fathering a love child.
The Terminator actor notably had an affair with their housekeeper, Mildred Baena, and she gave birth to their son, Joseph Baena, 25, in 1997.
During a marriage counseling session in 2011, the counsellor had stated at the time, 'Today Maria wants to be very specific about something,' he reveals. 'She wants to know if you're the father of Joseph.'
Support: Speaking in his three part Netflix series, Arnold. he said: 'That’s why I didn’t really know if I was going to run because I didn’t really want to run if she was not 100 percent behind it (pictured 2007)
He 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 star explained that at first, both himself and Mildred assumed the child was her husband Rogelio's, and she continued to work for the Schwarzenegger family. 'In the beginning I really didn’t know, but the older he got, the more it became clear to me.'
'It was then just a matter of, "How do you keep this quiet?"' Arnold stated in a snippet from the documentary.
The actor first crossed paths with Maria, the niece of 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, at a tennis match in August 1977. The two became engaged after Arnold popped the big question to Shriver in his home country of Austria in 1985.
The former couple tied the knot the following year in 1986 during a romantic ceremony at the Kennedy family home in Massachusetts, and expressed that it had been the 'biggest wedding I've ever been
