Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger was an actor, bodybuilder and former Mr. Universe before he sashayed his way into politics and became the governor of California. Reuters

Arnold Schwarzenegger was an admitted Lothario while he was married to Maria Shriver -- having multiple affairs with many women, he said during an interview with “60 Minutes” Sunday, and even though he claimed that he knew Shriver knew about his indiscretions, her friends say she was never privy to that information.

The former California governor's penchant to keep secrets from his wife and to put his emotions “on deep freeze” inevitably led his marriage to Shriver to dissolve, he said in a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast Sunday.

Schwarzenegger explained on "Good Morning America" Monday that he was "too scared" to tell his wife and family about the affairs.

He said, "I just did not know how to (tell her). I was just, I think, too scared to lose everything, losing her, losing the family, and I just didn't know how."

Then the 65-year-old bodybuilder-turned-movie star said it would have been better to tell Shriver the truth from the beginning. "It's easy to be smart in hindsight."

During the interview with "60 Minutes," Stahl asked him directly if Shriver knew about the affairs and he nodded his head and said yes. But Monday, friends of Shriver told TMZ that's "bulls*@#t" and that she never knew of any affairs until she confronted him about the child he had with their housekeeper.

After she forced Schwarzenegger to admit that he had a love child with the family’s housekeeper years ago, Shriver filed for divorce. He never told his wife about the child for years because he was afraid the news would “get out.”

The former Republican governor of California revealed that during his 25-year marriage he didn’t tell his wife when he was in need of heart surgery or even when he wanted to run for governor because he thought Shriver might overreact and tell her “well-connected” Kennedy family and friends.

In his new autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story," and in the "60 Minutes" appearance promoting it, Schwarzenegger explained how being unable to be honest with the people he loves the most has hurt them in the long run, the New York Daily News said.

"That's the way I handle things. And it always has worked. But, I mean it does not — it's not the best thing for people around me because I sometimes — some information I just keep to myself," Schwarzenegger told Stahl.

The former Mr. Universe explained that his detachment from his close one stems from his bodybuilding days—he says emotions make athletes lose.

"So I became an expert in living in denial," the “govenator” said.

While he praises his ex-wife in most of the book for being a partner and a friend that was essential for his success, he admits to keeping her closed off from many decisions. She filed for divorce in July.

He didn’t even tell her when he was going to run for a second term as governor of California in 2006, leaving Shriver to read about it in the papers, the Daily News wrote.

Schwarzenegger told Stahl that he didn’t speak with housekeeper Mildred Baena about their son, but once he began to notice that the boy looked like him around age 8, he started to give Baena extra money.

"I kind of put it away and just said to myself, 'OK, I'm going to put this away. I'm going to fulfill my responsibilities,'" he tells Stahl.

He also didn’t want to talk about the relationship that he has with the child.

"I don't want to reawaken and kind of talk about it because it's not going to help them. And I just want to protect them as much as I can," he said.

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