SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Arnold Schwarzenegger 's political legacy in California already was tenuous.
He left the governor's office after seven years without making good on his central campaign promise to fix the state's budgeting system, then commuted the manslaughter sentence for the son of a political ally in one of his final official acts, drawing the condemnation of prosecutors and the family of a slain college student.
Now he's revealed to be the father of an out-of-wedlock child , a secret he kept during two gubernatorial terms.
No matter his accomplishments in office, Schwarzenegger may be best remembered as yet another philandering politician who got caught.
The former governor said in a statement early Tuesday that he had fathered the child of a longtime household staff member more than a decade ago, and that the woman continued to work in the family's Brentwood home until January.
Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, announced earlier this month that they were separating and that Shriver had moved out, although they did not give a reason at the time beyond a reference to difficult transitions.
After leaving office in January, the former Republican governor had for a time been angling for a role as some kind of international political spokesman, perhaps on environmental issues.
In April, he appeared at a Washington, D.C., forum on immigration hosted by President Barack Obama, but his grander plans for politics did not appear to be panning out, so Schwarzenegger lately
has been trying to relaunch his career as a Hollywood action star.
Yet Schwarzenegger's legacy and reputation already were under fire after he cut Esteban Nunez's prison sentence for manslaughter to seven years from 16. Nunez, the son of former Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, had pleaded guilty in 2008 in the stabbing death of a San Diego college student, 22-year-old Luis Santos.
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