Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Former Mistress Speaks!

First Published: June 14, 2011 4:32 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Arnold Schwarzenegger accepts an award at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on May 10, 2011 Mildred Baena, the former mistress of Arnold Schwarzenegger and mother to his 13-year-old son, is speaking out for the first time since the former California Governor admitted he fathered a child with a former staffer.

Baena spoke with Britain’s Hello! magazine, where she claimed she was not paid for the interview and only told son Joseph about his famous father a year ago.

Joseph reportedly said, “Cool!” when he was told that Schwarzenegger was his father and said he hopes to form a relationship with star.

“It wasn’t until later as Joseph grew and I started to see the resemblance that I wondered – but it became more apparent as time went on,” she said of her son’s resemblance to Schwarzenegger. “I knew Arnold was the father, and maybe as Joseph got older and began to look like him, he [Arnold] wondered. But he never said anything to me.”

Baena – who said she was only intimate with the actor a few times – claimed that Schwarzenegger’s estranged wife, Maria Shriver, had her suspicions that her husband might be the father due to the noticeable resemblance.

“She would say things like, ‘I’m here if you need to talk.’ I sensed something was up. I have so much love and respect for Maria… Finally, she asked point blank,” Baena claimed. “She was so strong. She cried with me and told me to get off my knees. We held each other and I told her it wasn’t Arnold’s fault, that it takes two.”

Despite Schwarzenegger and Shriver announcing their separation in May, Baena hopes the pair can mend their relationship.

“He’s a good man and I know he’s suffering too. He loves Maria. I hope with time they work things out,” she told mag.

On Tuesday, Baena’s lawyer, Michael J. Saltz, released a statement to Access Hollywood, confirming that she gave the interview to the British mag.

“My client did give an interview that was published in Hello Magazine. She gave the interview in order to set the record straight once and for all,” Saltz said. “Mildred was tired of people selling their lies to the media or claiming to speak for her when they do not.

“As for the interview, we did not personally pre-approve the questions or place limitations on the topics to be covered; Mildred talked about those area that she was willing to discuss, and kept private those that she was not,” Saltz continued. “All she wanted to do was put the lies and rumors to rest. And we believe that she has done that through this interview.”

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