Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘Cheating On Maria Shriver Was My Biggest Failure’

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The Terminator star stunned Hollywood in 2011 when he confessed to fathering a lovechild with his former maid, Mildred Baena, during his marriage to Maria Shriver.

Schwarzenegger and Shriver subsequently separated after 25 years of marriage following the scandal.

He tells U.S. shock jock Howard Stern, “I had personal setbacks, but this was without any doubt the biggest setback and the biggest failure. Without any doubt!

“And not only failure, but you really feel like, ‘I am 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, but it’s always easy to be smart in hindsight. The thing was, ‘How do you now make the best of that?'”

The former couple sought counseling in a bid to save the marriage, but Arnie fears that did more harm than good, adding, “It was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made because (the therapist) was so full of s**t. He said more crap and more nonsense… It was absolutely, totally counterproductive to our future relationship or to any hope to get together or anything like that. It was just nonsense talk. It was the biggest mistake.

“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 to anyone to have him explain to me anything.

“I apologized to Maria. I apologized to (our four) kids. And I tried to then move forward and say, ‘How do we make the best of it? How can I stay friends with Maria, so we can raise the family together, even though she moves out?’ And I understand all that. ‘And how do I have a really good relationship wit the kids and how do I make them still respect me even though I screwed up in this thing?’

“But they respect me in other things that I have accomplished and done for them or for the family. And, you know, it has worked out really so well with the help from Maria, with the help of the kids, but not because of the shrink or because of some psychiatrist. I think that people should get help when they need help. We are not against that, but in my particular case, it was not helpful.”

Schwarzenegger and Shriver have yet to finalize their divorce.