SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Arnold Schwarzenegger says his lifelong penchant for secrecy and ability to put his emotions “on deep freeze” led him to keep many secrets from his wife Maria Shriver, eventually causing the dissolution of their marriage when he was forced to admit he fathered a child with the family’s housekeeper years earlier.

Throughout their strained 25-year marriage, Schwarzenegger says he did not want to tell Shriver about crucial life decisions such as major heart surgery and running for California governor because he feared she would overreact and tell her well-connected family and friends.

In his new autobiography, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,” and in an interview that aired Sunday on “60 Minutes,” the former California governor acknowledges that his inability to be honest with people has hurt those closest to him.

“That’s the way I handle things. And it always has worked. But, I mean it does not – it’s not the best thing for people around me because I sometimes – some information I just keep to myself,” Schwarzenegger told reporter Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes.”

The former Mr. Universe traces his detachment to his bodybuilding days, where he says emotions make athletes lose.

“So I became an expert in living in denial,” says the Hollywood action star and former governor.

Schwarzenegger praises Shriver throughout the book as a partner and friend who was essential to his success, but also admits to keeping her in the dark about many career decisions. Shriver filed for divorce in July.

Although he had been toying with the idea of running for governor for more than a year, Schwarzenegger waited until just days before the filing deadline for the 2003 recall to discuss it with Shriver, writing in the book that he “didn’t want endless conversation about it at home.”

Shriver opposed the idea, but was persuaded to soften her stance by her mother, Eunice Shriver, who told her to support her husband’s ambitions. Despite that struggle, he also didn’t inform her when he decided to seek a second term, writing that she had to read about it in the newspaper.

“Total Recall” was officially published Monday.

The Associated Press purchased an early copy.

But Schwarzenegger’s biggest secret, the child he had with the family’s housekeeper, became tabloid news last year after he left office. Shriver confronted him during a January 2011 counseling session and he finally acknowledged the boy, Joseph, was his. Schwarzenegger said he kept the secret from his wife for years because he was worried “it would get out.”

He told Stahl he never even had a conversation with the housekeeper, Mildred Baena, about the son. Instead, after he began noticing the boy’s strong resemblance to him, around age 8, he just began giving Baena extra money.

“I kind of put it away and just said to myself, ‘OK, I’m going to put this away. I’m going to fulfill my responsibilities,’ ” he told Stahl.

He declined to say whether he has a relationship with the child, who is now about 15, and he said he didn’t want to go into any more details about his relationship with Baena because he’s already caused Shriver and their four children enough pain.

“I don’t want to reawaken and kind of talk about it because it’s not going to help them. And I just want to protect them as much as I can,” he said.

There were other deceptions, too, including a “hot affair” with actress Brigitte Nielsen while filming the 1985 film “Red Sonja,” when he and Shriver were living together. He admits to other affairs, but told Stahl they are “something that’s obviously between Maria and me.”

Schwarzenegger said in the interview that his marriage and his family were the most important things in his life, but he caused them tremendous pain.

“So the thing that really meant the most to me kind of fell apart because of my doing,” he said in the “60 Minutes” interview. “That is something that I will always look back and say, ‘How could you have done that?’ ”

Baldwin straightens out ‘suspended’ license mix-up

NEW YORK — Stephen Baldwin untangled a traffic case Monday that got him arrested as he was trying to get coffee in the city this summer.

“The Usual Suspects” actor became a defendant in real life when police pulled him over in Harlem in August and said his license was suspended. He pleaded guilty Monday to unlicensed driving — a traffic infraction, not a crime — and was ordered to pay a $75 fine.

“He’s cleared up his license. It’s all a misunderstanding,” his lawyer, Richard Southard, said outside court. Baldwin, dressed in a gray suit and toting a roll-aboard suitcase, declined to comment.

The 46-year-old actor told the Daily News of New York in August that police stopped him while he was heading for a Starbucks with his daughter. He said he hadn’t been notified that his license was suspended.

State Department of Motor Vehicles representatives didn’t immediately return a call Monday.

 

The youngest of acting’s Baldwin brothers, Stephen Baldwin was one of the stars of the 1995 whodunit “The Usual Suspects.” He also appeared in 1989’s “Born on the Fourth of July” and television’s “The Young Riders,” and he played Barney Rubble in 2000’s “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.”

 

Earlier this year, Baldwin faced off in a New Orleans civil courtroom with fellow actor Kevin Costner. Baldwin said Costner and a business partner duped him out of their fair share of a lucrative deal related to the cleanup of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The actors and others had formed a company that marketed devices that separate oil from water.

 

Baldwin and a friend sought $17 million in damages. A federal jury sided with Costner and gave them nothing.

 

Outside acting, Baldwin co-hosts a radio show with conservative talk figure Kevin McCullough. Baldwin lives in suburban Rockland County.

‘Family Guy’ creator to host Oscars

LOS ANGELES — “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane says being invited to host the 2013 Academy Awards “was the greatest call that I could have gotten in show business.”

Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced Monday that MacFarlane will host the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony in February.

Meron called the 38-year-old entertainer “the most unbelievable, consummate host choice we could think of.” Zadan said they have long admired MacFarlane’s talent, “so the idea of actually doing the biggest thing that we’ve ever produced with him is just beyond belief. We’re so excited.”

This is the first Oscar production for Zadan and Meron, whose credits include 2002 best picture winner “Chicago” and the musical TV show “Smash.”

MacFarlane is best known for his envelope-pushing animated TV shows “Family Guy,” “American Dad!” and “The Cleveland Show.” He made his big-screen directorial debut earlier this year with the irreverent R-rated comedy “Ted,” which took in more than $420 million at the box office. He also hosted the season opener of “Saturday Night Live” last month and released an album of big-band tunes from the 1940s and ’50s last year.

This is his first time hosting the Academy Awards, which he called “an overwhelming privilege.”

So will this be an edgier ceremony than in years past? Zadan and Meron prefer to describe the approach as “fresh.”

They’ll draw on MacFarlane’s skills as “a terrific writer and performer and singer and dancer,” Zadan said. “We’re going to utilize every one of them and see where we come out, but we hope to do something brand new and fresh based on the fact that we have a brand new and fresh host.”

MacFarlane said his favorite Oscar hosts are the classics of yesteryear: Johnny Carson and Bob Hope.

“There’s a lot of questions about edging-up the show, but I am a big fan of the kind of old-fashioned showmanship that those hosts embodied,” he said. “I think that’s really, in a perfect world, the balance that should be struck: Something that’s fun and relevant and genuinely funny, but at the same time has a spine of good, old-fashioned showmanship, which is what the Oscars deserves.”

A real-life role for Drew: motherhood

NEW YORK — Drew Barrymore is a mom.

The 37-year-old actress and her husband, Will Kopelman, welcomed a baby girl named Olive Barrymore Kopelman on Sept. 26.

A statement from Chris Miller at Barrymore’s production company, Flower Films, said the baby was born “happy, healthy and welcomed by the whole family.” The statement didn’t provide specifics on the birth.

Barrymore wed Kopelman, an art consultant, in June. He’s the son of former Chanel CEO Arie Kopelman.

She is the granddaughter of screen legend John Barrymore.