BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The revelation that Arnold Schwar zenegger has an out-of- wedlock child with a former employee turned into a tabloid frenzy Wednesday, as scores of reporters and photographers swarmed a quiet suburban cul-de-sac in the middle of California farm country amid unconfirmed reports it was the home of the child’s mother.
The woman was not at the Bakersfield home when the flash mob arrived, its satellite TV trucks filling the quiet street and spilling onto another one. The media descended after the woman’s name surfaced in several Internet reports.
Schwarzenegger’s office declined to discuss whether the woman is the mother of the former governor’s child.
Residents of the street of fashionable, relatively new homes sporting red-tile roofs and two- and three-car garages said they didn’t know if the woman’s son was fathered by Schwarzenegger. But a next-door neighbor, Marilyn Steelman, told The Associated Press that after moving into the neighborhood about a year ago, the family told her the woman worked for Schwarzenegger and was planning on retiring soon.
“Arnold was buying it”
Steelman said the real estate agent who sold the family the house told her Schwarzenegger was actually the buyer.
“She said the house was sold and Arnold was buying it for one of his staff that was retiring,” Steelman recalled.
Real estate records at the county assessor’s office make no mention of Schwarzenegger’s name.
Steelman said the woman, her husband and son are nice people. “He’s a wonderful kid. Such a nice young man. He’s respectful of people and property, very courteous. He’s very intelligent. He’s just a kid you want to be around,” she said.
Schwarzenegger, who recently separated with his wife, Kennedy family heiress and former network journalist Maria Shriver, acknowledged Monday that he fathered a child with a former employee more than a decade ago.
Boys born same week
He and his aides have declined to release her name or any details beyond a statement in which he apologized to his wife and four children and asked for privacy for his family.
Schwarzenegger has said Shriver didn’t learn the child was his until he told her after leaving office in January.
The birth certificate for the Bakersfield woman’s son shows he was born the same week as Schwarzenegger and Shriver’s youngest son, Christopher Schwarzenegger.
Shriver, who has declined to discuss the matter since issuing a brief statement Monday, made an appearance Monday at a taping of Oprah Winfrey’s farewell show but did not mention the scandal.
One person familiar with the situation said the former governor has been humbled and embarrassed by the ordeal.
“It’s been very, very hard for him,” said the individual, who requested anonymity out of respect for the family’s privacy. “He’s embarrassed. He’s not focused on what steps he needs to take for himself, but the steps he needs to take for his family.”
The incident returned to the public’s attention numerous allegations made over the years that Schwarzenegger was a notorious womanizer.
Shortly before he was elected governor in 2003, the Los Angeles Times reported allegations from more than a dozen women who said he had groped them or made unwanted advances. He apologized at the time for having behaved badly in his younger years, and went on to win election in a landslide victory.
Schwarzenegger biographer Joe Mathews said the public shouldn’t have been all that surprised by this week’s revelations. Mathews quoted the former governor’s own words, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” while acknowledging the groping allegations in 2003.
