Arnold Schwarzenegger (65) and his wife, Maria Shriver (55) have recently announced their separation after a 25 year marriage. This separation has come after Shriver discovered that Schwarzeneggar fathered a secret lovechild with their former house-keeper, Mildred Baena, 14 years ago. There is also the possibility of more women coming forward to spill the beans about the Terminator star. Schwarzenegger first gained fame as a body builder and then had a successful action career appearing primarily in action movies throughout the 1980s. His biggest film successes included The Terminator series, Twins and True Lies. The parties married at the height of the actor’s popularity in 1985. However, both parties were quite wealthy in their own right before the marriage. Shriver is the daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sergeant Shriver and Eunice Kennedy, the sister of prominent political leaders Sen. Edward Kennedy, Sen. Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy. Shriver is also a former network TV anchor. Although California is a no fault divorce state, meaning Schwarzenegger’s acknowledged philandering technically cannot be used against him in Court in relation to financial settlement, Laywers in the U.S claim that the realty is that it will be. Shriver has been publicly embarrassed and it is thought that the Judges will be more than aware of what has gone on and will use it against him when they come to the division of the matrimonial assets. In the event that Schwarzenegger and Shriver do not have a Pre-nuptial agreement, a divorce could really hurt Schwarzenegger whose portfolio is electic and estimates place his wealth at hundreds of millions of dollars. His assets range from a shopping mall in Ohio to a holding company that collects proceeds from his 1970s documentary “Pumping Iron”. In addition, Schwarzenegger has millions of dollars worth of stocks and also owns “Oak Productions, Inc”, the business entity that holds the intellectual property and contract rights for his blockbuster movies. The market value of the business is at least $1 million (it is thought that it could be worth up to $1 billion), producing an income of $100,000. All of Schwarzenegger’s assets could be vulnerable. There is also the question of what will happen to the Former Matrimonial Home, a Brentwood mansion that Shriver and the children moved out of earlier this year upon separation. Shriver could take up to half of anything earned during their marriage. It is also considered that Shriver is likely to receive the benefit of a hefty Spousal Maintenance Order for herself in addition to ongoing Child Maintenance (Child Support) for their 3 of their 4 children, who are under the age of 18. Some are saying that this could be the biggest and nastiest Divorce battle Hollywood has ever seen and with news that Shriver has already appointed one of Hollywood’s top divorce attorneys, Laura Wasser, it seems that the battle will shortly commence and the whole world will be watching.
