Maria Shriver detailed her “brutal” divorce from Arnold Schwarzenegger that left her spiraling in her new book of poetry, “I Am Maria.”
In an excerpt of the book obtained by People, the journalist wrote about how her 25-year marriage to the “Terminator” actor “blew up” in 2011 after he admitted to fathering a love child with their housekeeper, Mildred Baena.
“It broke my heart, it broke my spirit, it broke what was left of me,” she penned.
“Without my marriage, my parents, a job — the dam of my lifelong capital-D Denial just blew apart,” Maria added, referring to her mom and father, Eunice and Sargent Shriver, who died in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
“Now, much has been written about the end of my marriage, and frankly I don’t feel like I need or want to discuss it here, or anywhere.”
Maria, 69, praised her children — Katherine, 35, Christina, 33, Patrick, 31, and Christopher, 27 — for showing “grace, valor, and courage” during the dissolution of her marriage to their father.
“Everything about their world and the sanctity of their home got uprooted in an instant,” she wrote.
The “What’s Heaven” author said she “was consumed with grief and wracked with confusion, anger, fear, sadness, and anxiety” and “was unsure now of who I was, where I belonged.”
“Honestly, it was brutal, and I was terrified,” she added.
Maria said she cried as she sat on her hotel room floor, crying alone in the dark. However, she thought to herself, “Maria, this doesn’t have to be the end of you.”
The mom of four filed for divorce from Schwarzenegger, 77, in July 2011. However, their divorce was not finalized until December 2021.
The former Governor of California welcomed son Joseph Baena, 27, in 1997 with his housekeeper while he was married to Maria. However, Maria didn’t learn about her husband’s secret son until he confessed during their 2011 marriage counseling session.
In 2023, Schwarzenegger opened up about how he broke the news of his youngest son to his other four children.
“I had to go to my kids and explain it to them,” he said in his Netflix doc, “Arnold.”
“The reason I feel reluctant talking about it is because every time I do, it opens up the wounds again. I think that I have caused enough pain for my family because of my f–k up.”
The “Jingle All the Way” star admitted that Maria, his five kids and Mildred, 64, all suffered from his actions.
“I am going to have to live with it the rest of my life. People will remember my successes and they will also remember my failures. This is a major failure,” he shared.
“I Am Maria” is now available for preorder and will be released on April 1
