The Schwarzenegger affair: Arnold and Maria just grew apart…
…and then there’s the little matter of the 10-year-old out-of-wedlock child, fathered by Schwarzenegger during his affair with a long-time household employee.
There’s a feeling of deja vu here, although the details are always slightly different: powerful guy can’t keep it in his pants, no matter how lovely the wife or how fervent the vows, or how loyally she protects him. Although it’s impossible to know what’s truth and what’s a coverup, it appears in this case that Schwarzenegger’s wife Maria Shriver only recently found out about the affair, although there had been tensions between them for years. But she had stood by her husband and defended his honor and integrity during his campaign, when charges of previous gropings had surfaced.
Cheating is hardly confined to the rich and famous, although it seems to have found an especially cozy home among political men. Nor should this be any sort of surprise. Not only is it an old story, but the character traits of drive and arrogance that so often go with political ambitions, plus the prevalence of increased opportunity afforded by the political life, make it almost an inevitability. As Kissinger famously said, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” and Schwarzenegger, after all, possessed the multiple powers of the celebrity, the politician, the movie star, and the physical strongman.
This does not excuse his behavior, of course. For wife Maria Shriver, if the affair was indeed a recent revelation, the shame of her having defended him while ignorant of the truth would add to the sharpness of her feeling of betrayal. It’s often not the crime so much as the coverup, a fact Schwarzenegger ought to have known but probably ignored.
So not only does he have a child outside the marriage (close in age to his other young children), but apparently the mother is “a longtime household employee”????
Presumably someone Maria also placed her trust in.
Sounds like a pretty monumental betrayal.
Neo, Check out Governor Granholm’s statement on the issue.
She seems to have an issue concerning men.
Now it’s being reported that the woman in the affair was married at the time the child was conceived.
I wonder why the news came out at this time. My guess is that someone had uncovered it and threatened to go public, and so Arnold confessed.
I don’t defend Schwarzenneger, and in fact I find him deeply disappointing as a politician (I know, that’s a low bar to begin with), but I’m always amazed at how a cheating scandal is because some guy “can’t keep it in his pants.”
There was another woman (apparently married) involved, what about HER character? Couldn’t keep her skirt down? (crickets chirp)
And what about Maria Shriver? Ron White has a comedy set about adultery that begins “When you sign a paper that says you won’t have sex with any other woman, and the woman signs that paper and then stops having sex with you . . . .” Now I’m not suggesting that such is Schwarzenegger’s case (and I don’t care if it is), keep in mind though, that the question is never raised.
When a man cheats in a marriage, the responsibility is always his. When a woman claims rape, the claim is a de facto guilty verdict because women never lie. There may have been a time when both of these statements were true most of the time, but in our libertine and promiscuous world today, I don’t think we can ever accept either at face value.
As for cheating politicians, as Mark Twain said, “. . . but I repeat myself.”
T: of course there was another woman. But she is not a public figure, and I don’t even know her identity. And of course she betrayed Maria Shriver (as well as her own husband, if she was indeed married at the time) by having an affair with Arnold and by covering it up as well. And, unless it was a rape, we can assume she was a free agent who made her own decisions.
But—and it’s a big “but”—it is Schwarzenegger who is the politician and public figure, and his behavior is apparently part of a long string of similar behavior, both from him personally and from other politicians and public figures. As such, that is why the incident is worth blog commentary, rather than a mere private matter.
Your assumption that Shriver may have stopped having sex with Schwarzenegger is not only based on no evidence, but is bizarre considering that Schwarzenegger’s philandering pattern apparently goes way way back.
1. Especially heinous is that Schwarzenegger had the affair with someone his wife knew and trusted.
2. Per Baklava, Granholn tweets:Maybe we need more women governors. Guys: keep ur pants zipped, for Pete’s sake.
3. Each is a failed governor. Schwarzenegger made an unsuccessful effort at fiscal sanity early in his term. Granholm was a member of Michigan’s majority party.
4. As a neighbor, Granholm seems preferable to Schwarzenegger, and I accept at face value Granholm’s implication that she has been faithful to her husband. Nevertheless, Granholm’s oblivious moral smugness makes me more uneasy than Schwarzenegger’s amorality.
And the coming public statement from Maria will sound something like….
“He ummm, like he ummm did her, like intimately, like ummm they did it, like i dunno, he like really hurt me and like all his and my, ummm family”.
Good grief, SteveH, the woman has been betrayed and humiliated.
Granholn tweets:Maybe we need more women governors.
Maybe we need more American governors.
Neo,
I did not introduce the point of a sexless marriage as an assumption without evidence. I specifically noted that:
“Now I’m not suggesting that such is Schwarzenegger’s case (and I don’t care if it is), keep in mind though, that the question is never raised.”
I find Schwarzenegger’s behavior as a politician and a person just as despicable as John Edwards’, and to a point we must all be held responsible for our own behavior.
As you, yourself note, “although it’s impossible to know what’s truth and what’s a coverup. . . .” it seems like everyone delights in jumping to the stereotypical knee-jerk conclusion “powerful guy can’t keep it in his pants. . . ” That doesn’t make the assumption untrue, but it doesn’t make it true either.
Gs, she’s a Kennedy and spent a lifetime screwing the whole country. Sorry, but Arnold boinkin the maid just doesn’t compare.
I liked this Glenn Reynolds (instapundit) comment:
SO SCHWARZENEGGER TURNS OUT TO BE A true member of the Kennedy clan.
T: actually, I see this question raised a great deal when a man is unfaithful, although I’ve yet to see it raised (till now) regarding the Schwarzenegger/Shriver marriage.
My point is that it is especially inappropriate to raise it in the Schwarzenegger case, since his actions seem to be in line with an entire lifetime of such behavior, which seems rather compulsive in nature.
I don’t know much about Arnold’s sexual history other than I remember someone accused him of fondeling several years ago. I really haven’t followed his history much in any way even if it has been media fodder because I became very disillusioned with him as a governor and moved on.
I agree, with such a sexual history, the possibility is not only less likely, but perhaps even the cause of a sexless marriage.
FWIW, I reach a point where the disappointments keep piling up and I stop noticing because I’m ignoring the entire mess anyway. As I said above, with Arnold, I reached that tipping point several years ago.
The system would correct itself if it becomes unable to attract the ambitious.
So, is the child a natural born citizen or just a citizen: can the child someday run for president?
So, is the child a natural born citizen or just a citizen: can the child someday run for president?
Depends on his party affiliation. If he’s a Dem, he could probably run right now.
Did she bring her junior high and highschool aged sons with her to the Beverly Wilshire, or where ever she moved to after she walked out on Schwarzenegger? Or did she leave her kids?
There were actually some nutjobs in Germany who speculated about us changing our constitution to allow Arnie to run.
FWIW, Arnie is ugly. I can’t imagine anyone being attracted to him.
his behavior is apparently part of a long string of similar behavior, both from him personally and from other politicians and public figures
1. She married him. I doubt he acted the saint when they dated.
2. She should be used to such behaviour within her side of the family…
These sordid affairs as publicized typically seem to be cases of men in superior position power-tripping on women whom they view as socially inferior. According to Wikipedia, there is a long tradition of the same behavior. While it’s mostly in folklore and literature, from Mesopotamia forward, no doubt raiding captors, slave-owners, feudal lords and recent politicians exercised the prerogative. Might makes right, in their primitive beliefs.
Where a man and a woman are social equals, or where genuine mutual affection exists, there doesn’t seem to be much of a public moral concern.
Anyone notice lately how quickly public figures are brought down by their moral lapses, as spread across the Internet? Soon there’ll only be one (or maybe none) still standing for us to hang our hopes on!
I have never been a powerful figure or celebrity, but it seems apparent to me that these men and women have people coming on to them quite regularly. There are documented cases of women who have, for some twisted reason, kept score on the number of celebs they have bedded. In my own industry, the airlines, there was a flight attendant who had a list of pilots she wanted to sleep with. Kind of a bucket list, if you will. A friend of mine, who was one of her conquests, actually saw the list. (My name wasn’t on it. lols) Henry Kissinger said something to the effect that power is the greatest aphrodisiac. How many of us who were in the same position – having attractive women constantly coming on to you – especially if you were away from home a lot, could walk the straight and narrow. I would want to believe that I could, but I have not been tested in that way.
All that said, being weak and succumbing to temptation is one thing, but it does not explain why they seem to believe they can get away with it. Especially if it will devastate their careers. Except, of course, in the case of liberals like Bill Clinton, Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, JFK, and others. There has been a double standard.
For the record, here, more eloquently stated by Instapundit is the point I was making above:
SEXISM: Powerful, narcissistic – and most importantly, media-enabled – men get in trouble and it’s presented as a problem with men generally. Well, women aren’t morally superior, their flaws just vary slightly. But don’t even think about drawing general conclusions about the moral worth of an entire gender from those incidents.
Posted at 6:37 pm by Glenn Reynolds [May 19, 2011]