Arnold talks Maria, Mildred, all their kids
More than four years after they separated, are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver legally divorced yet?
You'd be hard-pressed to tell after the movie star and former California governor talked to Howard Stern on his radio show Wednesday.
Instead, in the service of promoting his new movie, Terminator Genisys, Schwarzenegger talked about his "wife" Shriver and their kids, about his "screw-up," about his onetime mistress and their kid, about his "biggest mistake" in agreeing to see a therapist, and about his happy relationships with everybody to this day (except the therapist).
"I'm one of the fortunate ones," says Schwarzenegger, who's back as the Terminator in his new movie, opening next week.
Stern, who's had his own problems with divorce, said he was "moved almost to tears" by Schwarzenegger's description of how he's managed to stay friends with his wife and a hero to his kids.
Like the movie, it's a comeback for the "Governator" after the embarrassing revelations, in January 2011, that he had an affair and fathered a child with their housekeeper, Mildred Baena, more than a decade earlier.
The news prompted Shriver to move out and file for divorce, as pundits predicted an unholy battle over splitting up their multi-millions in assets. So far, no battle.
Meanwhile, media reports have claimed the divorce was to be finalized in December 2014, and Schwarzenegger has been seen often with a new girlfriend, Heather Milligan. But he did not confirm a legal split on Wednesday.
Instead, he talked about a "personal setback" and his disappointment. He's done this before, including in his 2012 memoir, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.
"Without any doubt, (his split from Shriver) was the biggest setback and the biggest failure, without a doubt," he told Stern. "I'm to blame for it, it was me who screwed up, I can't point a finger at anyone else. So I was disappointed in it ...and so how do you now make the best of that?"
What about therapy, Stern asked. Shriver talked him into going and he went, he said.
"It was the biggest mistake I ever made, that guy was full of (it)," he said. "He said more crap, more nonsense, it was totally counterproductive to our future relationship or any hope to get together (again)."
He knew it was all his fault and didn't need a therapist to tell him, he said. Instead, he and Shriver and their four children (ages 17-25) worked together to repair and strengthen their relationships.
"It worked out really so well with Maria and the kids, and not because of some shrink," he said.
As proof, he said that when he arrived in Germany recently to promote the movie, he found a room full of balloons and cards from the kids, praising him as "the greatest dad."
"That was the relationship I was looking forward to after this complicated bump and screwup," he said. "Even the fifth child with Mildred (Joseph, 18), he was terrific and totally understands the situation, It's a very tough situation for him and for my kids and for everybody."
