A Woman Scorned? Sources Say Maria Shriver Had A Lover Before Divorcing Arnold Schwarzenegger

Highlights

After a public betrayal and divorce, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger have formed a great relationship and remain on good terms.
Maria may have had her own affair prior to the divorce, with rumors suggesting she was dating Arnold's former campaign strategist, Matthew Dowd.
Maria's current relationship status is unclear, as there have been reports of a split with Dowd, but she and Arnold continue to prioritize their family and have love for each other.

It's been over a decade since Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a child with his then-mistress. In 2011, headlines screamed about Schwarzenegger's affair, though it seemed Maria Shriver already knew the details — possibly years earlier. Some accounts suggest that Maria knew for sure that Arnold had cheated when his son was about 14 and only resembled his father more and more.

But now that the dust has settled on the drama, and Arnold has formed a bond with his son Joseph, everyone's wondering how Maria Shriver managed to move on from such a public betrayal.

It turns out that Maria might have been having her own affair prior to her divorce from Arnold. So who is Maria dating now, and did she cheat, too?

Updated August 1, 2023: Whether or not Maria Shriver ever did have an affair, it's unlikely her ex-husband will ever address it. As Arnold Schwarzenegger shared in his Netflix documentary, he's thrilled to still have a great relationship with her.

Maria Shriver Went Public With Her Boyfriend After Arnold Moved Out

In 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver separated, with Arnold moving out of the family home. It wasn't until August 2014 that Maria stepped out with anyone else. But when she did, heads turned.

Page Six notes that Maria and Matthew Dowd attended a family member's wedding in 2014, marking their first public appearance as a couple. It was rumored they began dating in 2013.

Yet sources say that Maria and Matthew were together long before then, and long before she separated from her husband.

Page Six claims that Dowd, who was Arnold's lead campaign strategist at one point, had been wooing Shriver for years already by the time they became official.

Their affair was rumored to have started in 2006, and 'insiders' remarked that Arnold knew about the affair but chose to actively ignore it. Some evasive actions he took include removing Dowd from his campaign, arranging for a separate green room when they could have crossed paths on a TV show, and forcing staffers to 'choose sides.' Dowd, for his part, reportedly let the details of the affair slip when he "bragged" about having slept with "a Kennedy." The affair was never revealed, Page Six notes, because Arnold didn't want to air the former couple's dirty laundry.

Did Arnold Schwarzenegger Allow His Wife To Have An Affair?

Knowing what the public now knows about Arnold's own past, it seems he might have permitted the affair. Page Six's sources stated that Schwarzenegger knew his wife was seeing someone else.

They allege that he purposely kept it under wraps — telling staffers not to mention it, and going out of his way to avoid Matthew Dowd when he visited California.

Arnold never seemed to utter a word about Maria's affair while they were still together, possibly to prevent his own secrets from coming out.

Yet when the couple finally separated, still Arnold never once brought up Maria's alleged affair. Theories vary, but one possible explanation is that there's more dirty laundry in Schwarzenegger's closet that he doesn't want aired.

There are other theories, of course. Although Arnold has obviously made missteps in his relationships, he did seem to do right by Mildred Baena and their son by providing private schooling and a home for them. What's more, he's been incredibly vocal about how guilty he feels to have hurt so many of his loved ones in such a big way. As he said in his Netflix documentary, to this day, he avoids bringing attention to the situation, simply because he doesn't want them to re-live it again. "Every time I do it opens up the wounds again," he explained.

Could it be that Arnold's keeping his ex-wife's affair quiet is another attempt at making amends to those he's wronged?

Does Maria Shriver Have A New Boyfriend?

Maria and Arnold's divorce took a long time; it was only finalized in 2021, ten years after they formally separated. Since then, Maria has seemingly only been connected to Matthew Dowd.

But in late 2021, NY Post reported that Shriver was apparently single. There's no specific timeline for the apparent split, but the two don't seem to have been photographed together recently.

In fact, they don't seem to have been photographed together since 2016, and other sources suggest the two broke up in 2017.

For Arnold's part, he was said to be considering proposing to his longtime girlfriend, Heather Milligan, around 2021; the same year he and Maria finally divorced. However, two years on, they're still not husband and wife. They do appear to be a pretty happy couple, however, so perhaps they're happy with where they are as a couple, wedded or not.

She And Arnold Are On Great Terms Today

Though Maria Shriver may be single, she doesn't seem to lament the past at all these days. Plus, whether or not she'd had an affair prior to her split from Arnold, she and her ex-husband get on great, now. In fact, in his Netflix documentary, Arnold himself shared that regardless of anything that happened towards the end of their marriage, there was still a ton of love between them. "There is nothing more important than to have a good partner by your side, and every step of the way, Maria was that. We have a really great relationship ... Any type of special day, we are all together as a family," he said.

Arnold also revealed that his moving on with Heather didn't mean he'd ever stop loving his former wife. "I have a wonderful girlfriend, Heather Milligan, who is very successful. I’m really proud of her, and I love her. At the same time, I love my wife. She and I are really good friends and very close, and we are very proud of the way we raised our kids," he shared.

There's no denying this former couple's split is a heartbreaking one - but it seems this is a case of "All's well that ends well" - and we're glad to see they're still happy to be in each other's lives.