>>>
begin this half hour with the woman at the center of the
arnold schwarzenegger
scandal. she's telling her side of the story now for the first time. nbc's
peter alexander
is here with details on that.
>>
matt, good morning to you. with all the focus on
anthony weiner
it's kind of hard to believe that a month ago it was revealed that
arnold schwarzenegger
fathered a child with his own housekeeper,
mildred
baena
. she is finally breaking her silence, answering questions about the affair, and what she said happened during a dramatic confrontation with
maria shriver
.
mildred
baena
insists this will be her one and only interview. an effort she says to
set the record straight
about her affair with her former boss
arnold schwarzenegger
and their no longer secret son
joseph
, identified by his mother for the first time publicly.
baena
, until recently a trusted member of the
schwarzenegger
family staff, tells "hello" magazine she doesn't want her 13-year-old boy, born just five days after
schwarzenegger
and
maria shriver
's
youngest son
, to be ashamed of who his father is. 50-year-old housekeeper says her affair with
schwarzenegger
was short lived. it was a few times, 14 years ago. i thought i loved him.
baena
calls
schwarzenegger
a good man and denies reports that he had known about the child for years, saying, never have i told him
joseph
was his son, never did he ask me, and never did we talk about it. the twice married mother of five claims she beto suspect
joseph
was
schwarzenegger
's son as he grew up and increasingly started to resemble his famous father. beginning last summer
maria shriver
heard the whispers and ultimately confronted her, asking if her husband arnold was
joseph
's father. i dropped to my knees and i was crying saying that, yes, he was, and i was so sorry,
baena
tells "hello." maria 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. while
baena
says
schwarzenegger
helped her buy this $250,000 home, she claims she wasn't paid a dime for her interview with the british magazine. since the scandal first broke last month
schwarzenegger
has largely stayed out of view, surfacing briefly for lunch his sons patrick and christopher.
>>
he has told his friends that he thinks it's not that big a deal and he doesn't really get what all the fuss is about and that he would like to still reconcile with maria and still loves her.
>> reporter:
shriver was most recently spotted on a weekend hike with two of their children at home in
los angeles
, though she's reportedly moved out of the family home and staying at an exclusive
beverly hills hotel
. for her part,
mildred
baena
says this has been the scariest, most painful, confusing, and disappointing time of her life. but that her thoughts really go out to shriver. i want her to know that i admire her and my apologies come from the heart. i never intended for anyone to know, not ever. i never wanted anyone to be hurt by this.
>>
and one other point i think that really catches your attention when you read this interview is the son
joseph
's initial reaction to finding out that his dad was
arnold schwarzenegger
. he found that out as his grandma.
baena
said in typical teenage fashion, his response was, cool. apparently looking forward to building a new relationship with his famous dad. matt?
