In early January 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger ended his second term as Governor of California. The seven-time Mr. Olympia and Hollywood action star also stepped away from politics that day. While things seemed stable on the surface, Schwarzenegger and his then-wife, Maria Shriver, separated after Schwarzenegger confessed to his affair with their housekeeper. The couple had decided not to make things public. However, things turned out differently.

The media caught on that the couple had been living separately. The kids would stay with Schwarzenegger for a while and then with Shriver. Soon, the LA Times picked up the story “of a son born out of wedlock.” Schwarzenegger knew he wouldn’t have a choice, so he told his kids the truth a day before the news broke. However, he didn’t expect what Katherine and Partick Schwarzenegger would tweet after the news became public.

Arnold Schwarzenegger promised he would fight to keep his family together

The day before the story broke, Schwarzenegger’s daughters, Katherine and Christina Schwarzenegger, were in Chicago with their mother. So the actor called them and told them about the incident on the phone. However, Patrick and Christopher Schwarzenegger were staying with their father at the time.

“I asked them to sit down and told them face to face,” Schwarzenegger wrote in his 2012 book. Arnie explained that the affair happened fourteen years ago, in 1997. “It doesn’t change my love for you, and I hope it doesn’t change your love for me. But that is what happened. I’m terribly sorry about it. Your mother is very upset and disappointed,” he told them.

The next day, Patrick and Katherine tweeted about it. Schwarzenegger’s eldest son quoted a rock song, Where’d You Go. “Some days you feel like sh*t, some days you want to quit and just be normal for a bit,” read the lyrics. “Yet I love my family till death do us part,” the tweet read, as Arnie recounted in Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.

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His eldest daughter’s tweet echoed a similar sentiment. “This is definitely not easy, but I appreciate your love and support as I begin to heal and move forward in life. I will always love my family!” she tweeted. However, that was only the beginning of the aftermath.

Kathrine Schwarzenegger went abroad to get away from the media

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Katherine Schwarzenegger mentioned that the aftermath of their parents falling out suffocated her. Everywhere she went, the media would hound her and her family. So in May 2011, the bodybuilding legend’s daughter flew to London to get away from the unwanted attention.

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“I just kind of wanted to go away and realize that it’s not as big a deal in other places,” she said in the interview. The author also said she saw the stories about her parents in the news but didn’t read them. While her siblings didn’t come with her to London, it took a long time for everyone involved to find their bearing. That time for the Schwarzeneggers was definitely not easy, but they all managed it through. They still meet and celebrate special occasions together, which is something hard to do for a family after going through so much.