Years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger shocked fans (and the Californians he had previously ruled) by admitting he fathered a child outside of his marriage. But the most surprising thing about the announcement was that it was about his housekeeper whom he fathered, and she had apparently kept the boy a secret for over a decade.
It was complicated in some ways, and some suggest there may even have been a legal dispute over the legal liability of the younger Schwarzenegger child.
Mildred Baena denied knowing who Joseph’s father was
These days, everyone knows what happened with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his family’s housekeeper. In 1997 Joseph Baena was born, but it took years for anyone to discover his paternity. This seems to be in part due to the fact that Mildred “Patty” Baena herself did not know who the father was.
At the time, Mildred Baena was married to her ex-Rogelio de Jesus Baena. Sources say that the couple got married in 1987; they would also have a daughter, Jackie, together. But sources also suggest that from the time Joseph was born, Rogelio had doubts about the child’s DNA.
Yet in his 2011 revealing interview with Hi! Magazine, Mildred reportedly said: “It was as Joseph grew older and I started to see the resemblance that I wondered – but it became more evident over time.”
This quote makes Mildred look like she had no idea who her son’s father was until he was growing up. Another quote attributed to the mother of two confirms: “I knew Arnold was the father, and maybe as Joseph got older and started to look like him, he wondered.”
From Baena’s comments, it seems she was unsure whether her husband or Arnold was the father of her son, until he became more and more Schwarzenegger. Her husband, however, seemed to get it right before the news was released publicly.
In fact, some sources suggest that he left Mildred the same month Joseph was born; only three weeks after the baby arrives. However, Mildred didn’t file for a divorce until 2008, two years before Joseph’s true paternity was revealed.
Considering that Mildred Baena had been married to Rogelio Baena all these years, what did this mean for her divorce and child custody case?
Fans say Mildred’s ex was on the verge of child support
Because Joseph Baena was born in California and his mother and husband were married at the time of his birth, the state, according to fans, automatically assumed that Rogelio was the father. This is how the law works, according to the Los Angeles County Child Support Services.
The website notes that “in most cases” the law “assumes that the husband is the father” if the couple is married. Because Joseph Baena was conceived “during the parents’ legal marriage,†the general legal assumption would be that Rogelio Baena was the father.
It’s unclear, however, if Mildred and Rogelio have ever been to court, so to speak. Obviously they were divorced, but if Mildred admitted in the court record that Rogelio was not the biological father of her son (and only their daughter), then that would have been a moot point.
And by the time Mildred Baena and her ex divorced, it seems the Schwarzenegger family were already aware of Joseph’s true paternity. In this same Hi! interview, Mildred explained that she brought Joseph to the family home as he was growing up, and Maria Shriver, now Arnold’s ex, began to become suspicious.
Most sources say that Joseph was around eight years old when people began to notice his distinctive resemblance to Schwarzenegger. So it’s highly unlikely that Mildred attempted to pull the wool over her ex-husband’s eyes at this point.
This is an intriguing point, however, in terms of the legal implications surrounding Joseph’s education. If he might have looked less like his biological father, there might not have been so many waves about Joseph’s fatherhood.
Perhaps it was luck in all parts that Joseph looked so much like his father; that left little to question. However, it appears that paternity has finally been legally established because Arnold definitely took on the role of father with his fifth child.
When did Arnold take responsibility for Joseph?
Fans believe Arnold finally got the better of Mildred by financially looking after their son. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a messy legal situation with her ex-husband first. Once everything calmed down, Arnold developed a solid relationship with his son Joseph.
These days it’s two peas in a pod, and it doesn’t seem like anyone involved has any grudges against others; even Maria Shriver and Mildred “Patty” Baena.
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