Years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger shocked fans (and the Californians he had previously governed) by admitting that he had fathered a child outside his marriage. But the most surprising thing about the announcement was that it was his housekeeper whose child he'd fathered, and she had apparently kept the boy a secret for over a decade.
It was complicated in some ways, and some suggest that it's even possible there was a legal spat over whose legal responsibility the youngest Schwarzenegger child would be.
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 figure out his paternity. That seems to be, in part, because Mildred "Patty" Baena herself didn't know who the father was.
At the time, Mildred Baena was married, to her now-ex Rogelio de Jesus Baena. Sources say that the couple got married in 1987; they also reportedly have a daughter, Jackie, together. But sources also suggest that from the moment Joseph was born, Rogelio had his doubts about the child's DNA.
Yet in her 2011 tell-all interview with Hello! Magazine, Mildred was quoted as saying, "It was as Joseph grew and I started to see the resemblance that I wondered – but It became more apparent as time went on."
That quote makes it sound as if Mildred had no idea who her son's father was until he got older. Another quote attributed to the mother of two confirms, "I knew Arnold was the father, and maybe as Joseph got older and began to look like him, he wondered."
Based on Baena's comments, it sounds as if she was unsure whether her husband or Arnold fathered her son, until he grew to resemble Schwarzenegger. Her husband, however, seemed to figure things out before the news broke publicly.
In fact, some sources suggest that he left Mildred the same month Joseph was born; merely three weeks after the infant arrived. However, Mildred didn't file for divorce until 2008, two years before Joseph's true paternity was revealed.
Since Mildred Baena was married to Rogelio Baena all those years, what did that mean for her divorce and child custody case?
Fans Say Mildred's Ex Was On The Hook For Child Support
Because Joseph Baena was born in California, and his mom and her husband were married at the time of his birth, the state, say fans, automatically assumed Rogelio was the father. That's the way the law works, according to Los Angeles County Child Support Services.
The website notes that "in most cases," the law "assumes the husband is the father" if the couple is married. Because Joseph Baena was conceived "during the legal marriage of the parents," the general legal assumption would be that Rogelio Baena was the dad.
It's unclear, however, whether Mildred and Rogelio ever went to court, so to speak. Obviously, they were divorced, but if Mildred acknowledged in the court filing that Rogelio was not the biological father of her son (and only their daughter), then it would have been a moot point.
And by the time Mildred Baena and her ex divorced, it seems that the Schwarzenegger family already knew about Joseph's true paternity. In that same Hello! interview, Mildred explained that she brought Joseph to the family's home as he grew up, and Arnold's now-ex Maria Shriver started to become suspicious.
Most sources say that Joseph was around eight years old when people began to notice his distinctive Schwarzenegger likeness. So it's highly unlikely that Mildred attempted to pull the wool over her ex-husband's eyes by that point.
It's an intriguing point, though, in terms of the legal implications surrounding Joseph's upbringing. If he had, perhaps, looked less like his biological father, there may not have been as many waves about Joseph's paternity.
Maybe it was fortunate for all parties that Joseph looked so much like his dad; it left few things to question. However, it does seem that paternity was eventually legally established because Arnold definitely stepped up into the fatherly role with his fifth child.
When Did Arnold Take Responsibility For Joseph?
Fans do think that Arnold finally did right by Mildred in caring for their son financially. But that doesn't mean she didn't have a messy legal situation with her now-ex-husband first. After everything settled down, though, Arnold went on to develop a strong relationship with his son Joseph.
These days, they're two peas in a pod, and it doesn't seem that anyone involved harbors ill will toward the others; even Maria Shriver and Mildred "Patty" Baena.