Arnie hopes to save marriage despite 'stupid' affairs

US: Arnold Schwarzenegger says he still hopes to salvage his marriage despite admitting multiple affairs, including one in which fathered a child with the family housekeeper.

And, in a tell-all memoir published Monday, he insists he is "still in love" with Maria Shriver, his wife of 25 years who filed for divorce after he admitted he was the child's father.

The Hollywood star and former California governor said the fling with the housekeeper -- which produced a baby boy at almost the same time as his fourth child with Shriver -- was the "stupidest" thing he had done.

"The divorce is going forward, but I still have the hope that Maria and I can come back together as husband and wife and as a family with our children," he said in his newly-published memoirs, "Total Recall."

"You can call this denial, but it's the way my mind works... I'm still in love with Maria."

In a TV interview timed with the publication of his memoirs, the former bodybuilder told how Shriver confronted him about the child the day after he left office as California governor in January 2011.

He also admitted he had a habit of keeping secrets, including not telling Shriver that he was going to run for governor until days before he announced it, and trying to conceal having heart surgery from her.

AFP