As a bitter divorce battle looms his wife Maria Shriver has hired high profile Hollywood lawyer Laura Wasser in a step toward terminating her 25-year marriage to the former California governor.
Miss Wasser, 42, a glamorous single mother-of-two, earned her nickname handling dissolutions on behalf of some of the entertainment industry's biggest names. Her other clients include Robyn Moore, the wife of troubled "Braveheart" star Mel Gibson, who filed for divorce in 2009.
She has also represented Angelina Jolie, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera and Kiefer Sutherland in their marital splits, and helped Britney Spears achieve joint custody of her children despite the singer's public meltdown.
Miss Wasser is the daughter of Dennis Wasser, another famed divorce lawyer who represented Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg in ending their marriages.
Mr Wasser gave his daughter the middle name Allison so her initials would spell LAW.
The first marriage dissolution she handled was her own in 1993. She said afterwards: "Everybody should get married – once." Miss Shriver, 55, retained the lawyer after her husband admitted fathering a son, who is now 13, with the couple's Guatemalan-born maid Mildred Baena.
She is still struggling with the idea of divorce because of her Roman Catholic faith, and her husband's attempts to woo her back, and has not finally decided to end the marriage.
Divorce experts said there was likely to be a prenuptial agreement but after 25 years of marriage it may not be rigidly binding.
Paul Talbert, partner at US family law firm Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert, told The Daily Telegraph: "If there is a prenup they will negotiate off of that. If not then, in California, all of the assets acquired during the marriage are split fifty-fifty.
"She may even be able to demand a premium to remain silent about the scandal. The settlement will happen behind closed doors."
The couple's four children, the youngest of whom is 13, would have a large say in custody arrangements. Their son Patrick, 17, has already changed his sirname to Shriver on a social networking website.
The celebrity website TMZ reported new details of Mr Schwarzenegger's relationship with the maid, including that she sometimes slept with him in his marital bed. It said she once claimed to be more of a wife to him than Miss Shriver and even started wearing her clothes.
She was said to have sought pregnancy advice from Miss Shriver, who was pregnant at the same time.
It also emerged that Mr Schwarzenegger paid for a coming-of-age party for Mrs Baena's niece in 2001. The "Terminator" star attended the party with his wife and his secret son was also there.
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