Shriver had secret lover before Arnie's affair was exposed: report

Arnold Schwarzenegger may have bedded the maid but former wife Maria Shriver is not the victim most have been led to believe, sources claim.

Former Schwarzenegger staffers say the Kennedy heiress was sleeping with her actor-turned-politician's lead campaign specialist long before her husband's love child with the family housekeeper was exposed, The New York Post reports.

Shriver, 58, debuted boyfriend Matthew Dowd, 53, now an ABC analyst, last month at her cousin Bobby Kennedy Jr's wedding in Massachusetts.

However, The Post claims the relationship started in 2006 when Dowd was a chief strategist for Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign.

"Maria liked to make it appear that she's the victim, but she's not," a source told the newspaper.

"The (idea) that they started dating recently is ridiculous."

When Schwarzenegger, 67, was away, the pair would reportedly flaunt their affair in front of staffers, taking long walks and going on holidays together.

The furious actor allegedly then banned Dowd from his inner circle when he found out.

In a direct-message tweet to The Post on Monday, Dowd denied he and Shriver were involved at the time.

"There was no affair," he said. "We were good friends."

In May 2011, Schwarzenegger publicly admitted to having an affair with Mildred Beana years earlier and fathering her son, now 16.

Despite filing for divorce nearly three years ago, Schwarzenegger and Shriver are yet to finalise proceedings. 

Source: The New York Post
Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Matthew Henry