Men behaving badly

Arnold Schwarzenegger

LOS ANGELES (KTLA)
May 18, 2011

Mother of Schwarzenegger's Love Child Revealed

The identity of the staffer who became pregnant with Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child more than 10 years ago has been revealed.

Mildred "Patty" Baena, 50, got pregnant with the former California governor's child while working as the family's housekeeper, RadarOnline, Star Magazine and TMZ are reporting.

Baena pursued Schwarzenegger in the late 90s and told friends she would have unprotected sex with him during the day at the family's mansion, TMZ reports.

She reportedly did not tell Schwarzenegger he was her son's father until the boy was a toddler.

She threatened to go public with the story four weeks ago, according to RadarOnline.

Baena, who retired in January, lives in a 4-bedroom home in Bakersfield with her 4 children, neighbors tell KTLA. She stayed at the home mostly on weekends and lived at an apartment in Calabasas during the week.

"I feel for the young boy more than anything because he's a very, very nice, polite young man," Baena's neighbor Roger told KTLA.

Roger describes the boy as a "very handsome young man" who enjoys martial arts and sports.

Neighbors say he is now 14 years old.

Pictures of the boy show a strong resemblance to the Terminator star.

The boy's identity is being hidden for his protection.

Maria Shriver was reportedly pregnant with Schwarzenegger's youngest son, Christopher Sargeant, at the same time Baena was pregnant with his child.

Meantime, former California First Lady Maria Shriver calls her husband's betrayal "heartbreaking."

"This is a painful and heartbreaking time," Shriver said in a statement to KTLA partner The Los Angeles Times.

"As a mother my concern is for the children I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment."

Shriver's words come after her husband -- former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- recently admitted that he fathered a child with their staff member.

"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Schwarzenegger, 63, said Monday night in a statement issued to The Times. "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."

Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion after Schwarzenegger made the revelation earlier this year, The Times reported, adding that the staffer worked for the family for 20 years.

The staff member told the Times that she voluntarily left on good terms and received a severance payment. She was married when she got pregnant and claimed her husband was the child's father, according to the Times.

Once Schwarzenegger admitted he was the father, the woman had no comment when questioned by the Times.

"I ask that the media respect my wife and children through this extremely difficult time," Schwarzenegger's statement concluded. "While I deserve your attention and criticism, my family does not. " Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their split last week after 25 years of marriage.

The couple's 17-year-old-son, Patrick, posted his thoughts on the news Tuesday via his Twitter account.

"some days you feel like s**t, some days you want to quit and just be normal for a bit, yet i love my family till death do us apart," he wrote.

21-year-old daughter Katherine also posted on Twitter: "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."

TMZ.com reports that Schwarzenegger had late-night meetings with more than one woman at a Santa Monica office.

Sources told the website that at least two women repeatedly met Schwarzenegger at the office around 1 a.m. and would spend hours there. The sources also said there were bedrooms in the office building.

Personal comment: The Terminator always had a reputation. Perhaps not as the Fastest Gun in the West, but he was certainly known to Have Gun Will Travel and in his younger days was an amazing chick-magnet. It’s part of the Macho body-building and film culture and I don’t blame him for it. It’s not unusual in the entertainment and gaming industries which seem to attract men with overactive libidos and the view that they are entitled to any woman they want. That is why I wear a Penetrator plug when I go to meetings with that sort of men. But unprotected sex with a servant! He knew he wasn’t shooting blanks. What could he have been thinking?

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

The Wall Street Journal - Europe
Thursday, May 19, 2011

Across Europe, Views on Strauss-Kahn Diverge

From Gender Politics in Spain to a Legal Debate in Germany, Reactions to Case Expose the Region's Cultural Divisions

By SANTIAGO PEREZ in Madrid, ALISTAIR MACDONALD in London and VANESSA FUHRMANS in Berlin

Varied responses across Europe this week to the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn highlight deeply rooted differences in how countries view the case and how they have dealt with sexual transgressions by their leaders over the years.

In Athens this week, newspapers are filled with headlines about the arrest of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

On the Continent's Latin rim, known for its male-dominated culture, vivid accounts of what allegedly happened in the International Monetary Fund director's hotel room—and the detailed description of the sexual-assault charges leveled against him—have hit a raw nerve. Lawyers for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was being held without bail in the U.S., said he will plead not guilty.

In Spain, for example, which in recent years has made fighting domestic violence against women a top policy priority, a popular blog in El País daily newspaper said, "It's an earthquake for French politics...but what are the consequences for the maid?" The posting got dozens of replies. The heightened sensibility, said Madrid-based criminal lawyer Gonzalo Martínez-Fresneda "could be because historically, this has been a more sexist country."

Finance Minister Elena Salgado's comments that her "solidarity" in the Strauss-Kahn case would be "firstly with the woman who has suffered an assault, if that indeed proves to be the case," reflects increased impatience with sexist views, analysts say.

In Italy, where for years Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has regularly made sexual innuendoes and jokes, the premier's recent trial on charges of paying an underage girl for sex—charges he denies—has prompted women's groups to protest what they call the male establishment's demeaning attitude toward women. Comparisons between Mr. Strauss-Kahn's case and Mr. Berlusconi's trial abound, with editorialists widely commending the U.S. justice system's thus-far swift handling of the case. "Public opinion has become less tolerant of such behavior," said Italian sociologist Domenico De Masi.

In countries to the north, there has been more criticism of what many see as America's excessively media-friendly and trigger-happy judicial process. U.S. use of the death penalty is a topic followed closely in countries such as Germany and France, where capital punishment is illegal and often described as barbaric.

A number of commentators not only in France—where images of Mr. Strauss-Kahn in a "perp walk" have offended many—but in other European countries have criticized the way the IMF chief was marched before television cameras.

The usually aggressive U.K. media have mainly played it straight in covering the Strauss-Kahn incident—a reflection, some say, of strict rules U.K. journalists must negotiate on reporting of details that could influence a jury. In France, showing images of people in handcuffs or otherwise restrained by authorities before any condemnation is illegal, as the country's television watchdog reminded on Tuesday.

Despite such similarities, reactions in individual countries are influenced not only by their own experience with national sex scandals, but also by their relationships with France, a country that has prided itself on a cultural superiority, evoking both scorn and envy.

"We've gone from the image of the French lover to that of the French rapist," said Mehmet Koksal, Brussels correspondent for Courrier International, a French newsmagazine. In Belgium, tolerance for sexual crimes is low, especially after the 1990s case of Marc Dutroux, who was convicted for raping and murdering four girls in a case that led to a reform of the criminal justice system.

British politicians have often wondered why their French peers get away with affairs and other sexual misconduct in a way they would not. "We are, in Britain, a sort of eye to the keyhole, prurient society, trained to be voyeuristic by the newspapers, so any bit of sex that they can claim is inappropriate is enough to stimulate enormous pressure," says David Mellor, who in 1992 resigned as a government minister after finding himself on the front pages for an extramarital affair, which he admitted.

In Germany, citizens tend to shrug off the love lives of their leaders. When Christian Socialist Union leader Horst Seehofer admitted four years ago he had fathered a child in an extramarital affair, it briefly dimmed his popularity but didn't stop him from becoming Bavarian prime minister a year later.

The Strauss-Kahn case, of course, involves allegations of a crime, not peccadillos. "Normally Europeans don't care about politicians' sex lives, but rape is a different matter," said Katja Kempa, a college student in Berlin. Still, she added, "the whole thing with handcuffs was a bit extreme."

In Germany, the Strauss-Kahn scandal has quickly extended into a critique of the U.S. justice system, often a topic of cool-eyed scrutiny in German media and political circles. "Maybe Americans are used to this kind of thing," went an opinion piece in Wednesday's Süddeutsche Zeitung, headlined "Presumption of Innocence in Handcuffs."

Media in Greece, normally a hotbed of satirical political programs, are taking a serious approach. A possible reason: Greeks recognize Mr. Strauss-Kahn was instrumental in securing aid for the country when it was near default in May 2010. His departure from the scene is seen with a sense of foreboding. "The very uncertainty of his departure is not seen as a good development," said Theodore Couloumbis, vice president of Greek think tank Eliamep.

Meanwhile, in a survey conducted Monday in France and published Wednesday, pollster CSA found 57% of respondents thought Mr. Strauss-Kahn had been the victim of a plot, with just 32% saying he hadn't.

—John Miller, Nathania Zevi and Alkman Granitsas contributed to this article.

Personal comment: Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn also has a reputation, seemingly with hotel maids, reporters and underlings at the IMF if the women who are now coming forward can be believed. The charge of attempted rape is quite different from consensual sex so I hope the prosecution will have forensic evidence to support the maid’s charges. If the charge is true one has to wonder about his timing, shortly before he was due at the airport for a flight to Europe, to get amorous with the hotel staff. Apparently marital infidelity is far more widely accepted in political and business life in France than in the U.S. But if he was attempting to rape a member of the hotel housekeeping staff in NYC? What could he have been thinking?