Now he's looking back. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a detailed new interview to Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show on Wednesday, June 24, calling his divorce from Maria Shriver one of the lowest moments of his life.
"I had personal setbacks, but this was, without any doubt, the biggest setback and the biggest failure," the Terminator Genisys star reflected. "Without any doubt. Not only failure, but you feel like, 'I'm to blame for it. It was me that screwed up.' And you can't point the finger at anyone else. So yeah, I was disappointed in it. It's always easy to be smart in hindsight. The thing was how do you make the best of that situation?"
In 2011, the former governor of California admitted that he had fathered a love child [Joseph Baena, now 17] with the family's housekeeper more than a decade before. Shriver ended up moving to of the family's home in Brentwood, and filed for divorce in July 2011.
Stern noted that when he was going through his divorce, he sought therapy. "Did you do any of that?" the self-proclaimed King of All Media asked.
"Yes, we did, Maria and I," Schwarzenegger, 67, replied. "And it was the biggest mistake I've ever made. That guy was so full of s—. He said more crap and more nonsense. It was absolutely counterproductive to our future relationship… Maria talked me into it. I went, and I felt instinctively maybe I shouldn't go because I know I screwed up. I don't have to go through anyone to have to explain to me anything. I apologized to Maria. I apologized to the kids."
He debated with the dilemma of maintaining a friendship with Shriver, 59, and being respected by his kids. "It has worked out really so well with the help of Maria," Schwarzenegger mused to Stern. The two share four kids, sons Patrick and Christopher, and daughters Katherine and Christina.
"My kids are a straight 10," the proud dad continued. "I am so proud of them. I'm so in love with them." In fact, the actor was recently promoting the Terminator reboot in Germany, when he was surprised and incredibly touched by one gesture from his family.
"I walk into the room and I see the room full of balloons… It was from all four kids and from my wife," he shared. "There was a note — 'You're the greatest dad, the greatest man, we love you dad' — Each one sent a card. Each one sent a gift. That's the relationship we have."
There is, however, one more child of his, whom Schwarzenegger discussed with Stern. "It is fantastic," the star noted of his family, "including my fifth child with Mildred."
"He's terrific and he totally understands the situation," Schwarzenegger shared. "So, it all has worked out… It's a very tough situation for him. It's a very tough situation for my kids. Very tough situation for my family. It was tough for everybody. But it has happened and now we have to figure it out, right?"
