Arnold Schwarzenegger is so out of love with Maria Shriver that he had her face painted over in his governor portrait. Rumors claimed that Schwarzenegger decided to remove his ex-wife’s face from the painting after he discovered that she was also cheating during their marriage.
This week, Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his official portrait as the governor of California and it was hard not to notice that Maria Shriver’s face had been erased with a magic eraser.
The painting was done in 2003 by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein while the Republican was still in office.
When Helnwein first unveiled the 6-foot-high oil painting, it featured something very dear to Schwarzenegger, a lapel pin, with his then-wife Maria Shriver’s face.
But on Monday when the former politician lifted the curtain on the painting, it was clear that Schwarzenegger had hired an amateur to get rid of the lapel pin. The rest of the painting remained intact, but the spot where Shriver’s face was, had been covered with navy blue paint.
Many who attended the ceremony said that it looked sloppy and messy. While others claimed that it was visible that the actor was in a rush to remove anything that could remind him of the mother of his 5 kids from his life.
Capitol tour guide Richard Granis who has to see the masterpiece every day as it hangs on the third floor also slammed it by saying:
“Whoever touched it up did not do a very good job.It was softball sized, right there on his left lapel.”
But few of Schwarzenegger’s supporters saw something completely different (beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder) and said that it was a remarkable portrait.
Schwarzenegger gave a speech at the ceremony, which was attended by his sons Christopher, 16, and Patrick, 20. The former bodybuilder said:
“I dreamt about California every day, and I knew that one day I would have to come here to this beautiful state if I wanted to make my dreams a reality.”
In 2011, Schwarzenegger split from Shriver after it was revealed that he had an affair with one of the couple’s housekeepers and fathered a child with her.
Last week, rumors surfaced claiming that Shriver also cheated with Matthew Dowd, who was one of Schwarzenegger’s top aide while he was in office.
