Arnold Schwarzenegger Recalls Telling 'Crushed' Maria Shriver About Love Child With Housekeeper Mildred Baena: 'I Thought My Heart Stopped'

Arnold Schwarzenegger is recounting one of the most earth-shattering moments of his life.

In the actor's upcoming Netflix documentary, Arnold, Schwarzenegger opened up about the moment he told his now-ex-wife, Maria Shriver, that he had an affair with their housekeeper, Mildred Baena, and was the father of her son, Joseph Baena.

The 75-year-old said the secret about the 1996 affair came out during a 2011 marriage counseling session. “She wants to know if you’re the father of Joseph,” he remembered the therapist asking him directly.

“I thought my heart stopped,” Schwarzenegger admitted before he recalled telling his then-spouse, "‘Yes, Maria. Joseph is my son.' She was obviously crushed by that.”

The Terminator star noted that despite his affair with their employee being over by the time their love child was born in 1997, Baena continued to work for the family. However, Schwarzenegger was not sure during that period if the child was his or her husband at the time's, Rogelio Baena.

“In the beginning I really didn’t know, but the older he got, the more it became clear to me," he said. “It was then just a matter of, ‘How do you keep this quiet?.'”

“I have caused enough pain for my family, because of my f***-up,” the former Governor of California — who shares kids Katherine Schwarzenegger, 33, Christina Schwarzenegger, 31, and son Patrick Schwarzenegger, 29, with the journalist — explained of the fallout. “Everyone had to suffer. Maria had to suffer, the kids had to suffer, Joseph, his mother, everyone. I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life."

Despite the major betrayal, Schwarzenegger wants his 25-year-old to know that him being born was a gift. "I saw Joseph developing into a fantastic human being," the proud father admitted.

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"It was wrong what I did, but I don’t want Joseph to think he’s not welcome in this world because he is very much welcome and I love him," he continued in the film, set to be released on Wednesday, June 7. "He has turned out to be an extraordinary young man."

The Sun obtained the clip from the documentary.