Maria Shriver

Mildred "Patty" Baena, the woman who carried Arnold Schwarzenegger's illegitimate child, had an obsession with his wife Maria Shriver, according to reports.

Sources close to the Schwarzenegger's ex-housekeeper and staff member said she loved Shriver's naturally "gorgeous" looks and wanted to be just like her.

To that end, Mildred Patricia Baena - also known as Mildred Baena and Patty Baena - would dress in Maria's clothing and even wear her jewelry around town.

In one instance, Patty confided that Maria noticed that a piece of her jewelry was missing and interviewed the staff. It's unclear if it resurfaced.

Perhaps most shockingly, Patty Baena would go to Maria for "love advice" as well as advice about pregnancy and Maria graciously offered help.

Given that she gave birth to Schwarzenegger's love child, a secret she kept for more than 14 YEARS, that's pretty much the height of irony.

Baena also confided in a friend that when Maria would leave the house in the morning, she would crawl into the marital bed and "do" Arnold.

She once even bragged to a confidant that she was more of a wife to Arnold than Maria Shriver because she was "always there for him."

Long story short, this divorce is about to get really ugly.

Amid the shocking revelation that her husband cheated on her with - and impregnated - Mildred Patricia Baena, Maria Shriver made a surprise appearance Tuesday at the taping of the penultimate episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Her visit came less than 24 hours after Arnold Schwarzenegger publicly admitted he had fathered a child with the couple's former household staff member, and just a week after Shriver and Schwarzenegger announced their separation.

After appearances by Will Smith, Jerry Seinfeld, and Stevie Wonder, Shriver stepped on stage with Gayle King, Oprah’s best friend, at Chicago’s United Center.

The audience of 20,000 gave both women a standing ovation.

Shriver told the retiring talk show host, ”You’ve given me love, wisdom, and the truth,” then introduced Tyler Perry for the next segment of the show.

Interestingly, Shriver may have been with Oprah, King and Stedman Graham when the news of Schwarzenegger's love child first went public earlier.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's startling admission that he fathered a child out of wedlock over a decade ago begs a number of questions, chief among them:

1. Who is the mystery female employee he impregnated?
2. Having hidden it so well under heavy scrutiny, why admit it now?
3. How could be run for office while hiding a secret of this magnitude?

We don't know the answer to question #1 right now, though we imagine we will in time. The second is equally unclear. The third? Only Arnold knows.

His mistress, who worked in the family's home and continued to do so until earlier this year, always maintained that her then-husband was the dad.

This is a remarkable story for a number of reasons.

Even if Schwarzenegger's public persona was a macho rogue, adultery doesn't play well with voters ... nor does lying and pulling a John Edwards.

When the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate knocked up Rielle Hunter, he denied it to everyone's face until he was flat out busted.

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants Maria Shriver to come back to him. Whether she obliges is a different story, but he's supposedly determined to make it happen.

The Governator is changing his ways to make that happen. Sort of.

Sources say Arnold finally gets that Maria couldn't stand the fact that he was ignoring her and her needs, having spent very little time together in recent years.

Arnold has actually made headway, making Maria "ambivalent" at times about whether to go through with a divorce, despite their just-announced separation.

"Maria has been tortured over pulling the plug on the marriage," a source says. "One day she's determined to get the hell out, the next day she just can't."

Notably, they just spent an evening at an L.A. area hotel for their anniversary. Doesn't sound like somebody emotionally terrified of their spouse, does it?

One source very familiar with the couple says that amid the separation, "Arnold has done a 180. He's been really sweet to her since all this went down."

Guys. Can't live with 'em, are we right ladies?

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, who announced their surprise split earlier today, had been drifting apart for years, according to reports.

In fact, Shriver had been debating whether to divorce the actor turned Governor since 2009, and was "extremely conflicted" about their marriage.

Maria has been unhappy with him for years, sources say, and planned to break up in 2009 until her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, passed away.

Then, Maria wanted to try to break it off with Schwarzenegger again in January 2011, but her father died, once again putting the split on hold.

In any case, insiders say she is fed up with Arnold's infidelities, coupled with the fact he's been "impossible" to live with for myriad reasons.

Moreover, the kids acknowledge the issues and have pushed their mother to call off the marriage, even if it means their parents splitting up.

Despite a strong public persona, Maria has become a "shell of the woman" she appears because she is "terrified" of Arnold in recent years.

Sources emphasize that she's terrified in a strictly emotional, non-physical way.

In a surprise move, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver look to be terminating their marriage. They announced their separation late yesterday.

"This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us," the duo said in a joint statement to the Los Angeles Times.

"After a great deal of reflection, discussion and prayer, we came to this decision. We are living apart while we work on the future of our relationship."

Shriver moved out of their Brentwood mansion a few weeks ago.

"We are continuing to parent our four children together. They are the light and the center of both of our lives," the couple adds. "We consider this a private matter and neither we nor any of our friends or family will have further comment."

"We ask for compassion and respect from the media and the public."

Obviously this begs the question: How long had they been unhappy?

How's this for public marital squabbling?

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling out his wife, Maria Shriver, for apparently violating a state law and holding her cell phone while driving.

Ahhnold himself passed that very law!

The celebrity gossip site TMZ posted two photographs Tuesday showing Shriver holding a phone behind the wheel, one Sunday and the other in July.

The site later added a video it said was shot Tuesday in Brentwood, a posh area of L.A., where the family lives. It shows Shriver holding a cell phone to her ear while driving a large SUV that appears to be a Cadillac Escalade.

She puts the phone down while the camera is rolling.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and scofflaw wife Maria Shriver.

Upon learning of the infractions, the Governorator promised to regulate.

On his Twitter feed, Schwarzenegger wrote to TMZ's Harvey Levin: "Thanks for bringing her violations to my attention. There's going to be swift action."

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says that by "swift action," the governor means he'll ask his wife not to hold her cellphone while driving.