Schwarzenegger's Estranged Wife Maria Shriver Erased From Former Governor's Official Portrait
SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) -- Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appears to have had an alteration to the official portrait unveiled in Sacramento earlier this week – the removal of an image of his estranged wife Maria Shriver.
Thursday's online San Francisco Chronicle Matier & Ross blog cites unnamed sources as saying the painting was done years ago and originally featured a lapel pin depicting Shriver.
The photograph-like portrait by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein shows a visible smudge on the left lapel.
According to the column, Helnwein told Barbara Gasser of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association there was "one little interesting detail" in the portrait – "which I cannot give away because I am not allowed to tell, but it was very important and meaningful to the governor."
A few months after Schwarzenegger left office in 2011, he and Shriver separated after 25 years of marriage. Days later it was revealed Schwarzenegger had fathered a son 14 years earlier during an ongoing affair he had with his household maid.
