Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls how his ex-wife, Maria Shriver, confronted him about the boy he fathered with their housekeeper.

The hero of “The Terminator” is the topic of a new three-part Netflix docuseries titled “Arnold,” which follows the Austrian native’s path from athlete to actor to the American politician.

It also goes into detail about his personal life. The third episode discusses Schwarzenegger’s romance with a member of their domestic staff, Mildred Baena, in 1996, which led to the birth of his fifth child, Joseph Baena.

“Maria and I went to counseling once a week, and then in one of the sessions the counselor said, ‘I think today Maria wants to go and be very specific about something,” the former bodybuilding champion remarked to the camera. ‘She wants to know if you are Joseph’s father.'”

“And I thought my heart had stopped beating.” Then I revealed the truth: ‘Yes, Maria, Joseph is my son.'”

Shriver was “obviously crushed” after his admission, he claimed.

Their talk, according to the actor’s biography “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,” took place in 2011, the day after he left office as Governor of California.

In the documentary, Mark Z. Barabak, a Los Angeles Times writer, revealed how he received a tip about the affair and even had it confirmed by Schwarzenegger’s staff, but opted to hold off on publishing the news to “afford him and Maria Shriver some time to talk to their family.”

Even after a decade, Schwarzenegger says he is “reluctant” to discuss the incident because “every time I do, it opens up the wounds again.”

“I believe I have caused enough pain for my family as a result of my blunder.” Because of this, everyone had to suffer: Maria, the children, Joseph, his mother, and everyone else.”

“I’m going to have to live with it for the rest of my life,” the former Mr. Universe concluded. People will remember both my accomplishments and my failings. This is a massive blunder. I’ve experienced failures in my profession before, but this is a whole other ballgame and dimension of failure.”

Speaking of his son, who appears briefly in the episode but does not speak on camera, Schwarzenegger admitted that he did not know for many years that Baena was his.

“In the beginning, I had no idea; I just started feeling.” “It became clear to me as he grew older,” he stated. “And then it was just a matter of, how do you keep this quiet?” “How are you going to keep this a secret?”

He called Baena, a bodybuilder who has followed in his footsteps, a “fantastic man” who “makes me proud.”

“What I did was wrong,” the former governor stated. “But I don’t want to give Joseph the impression that he is not welcome in this world — because he is.” I adore him, and he has developed into an exceptional young guy.”

Schwarzenegger and Shriver, who is John F. Kennedy’s niece, married in 1986 and had two daughters, Katherine, 33, and Christina, 31, as well as two boys, Patrick, 29, and Christopher, 25. Although Shriver filed for divorce immediately after their fatal therapy session, the couple’s divorce was not finalized until December 2021.

“I’m very happy that, despite our tragic circumstances, Maria and I were able to raise our children very well,” Schwarzenegger remarked.

“I believe that nothing is more important than having a good partner by your side, and Maria was just that.” We have a fantastic friendship. We are all together as a family on any significant occasion. But it’s not what it was when we were all united as a family under one roof. That is no longer the case.”

“Arnold” will be available on Netflix on June 7.