There are a lot of photos, and having seen them, my thought is yes, the child looks a lot like Arnold. Some include two males who appear to be his older half-brothers, and they look nothing like him -- both dark, while the younger child has blond hair. There's pictures of him from diaper days to about age 10 or 11.
The mother was divorced in 2008. I don't think her older sons are from that marriage, but from another relationship that may not have been formalized. She's used two other last names, and the older kids' names match one of them, not that of her ex-husband. She bought a home in 2010 in Bakersfield, but it's not an expensive one (under $300,000.)
The young child looks happy in all the pictures, as does the whole family. They also seem very close. I hope that now that the secret is out, the young son gets to spend time with Arnie's other kids.
As I said earlier, Arnie is hardly the first politician to have a child out of wedlock. I'm not sure what the huge deal is for anyone outside their families. He's not currently in office and he has made it clear he's going back to making movies. He's a private citizen now, and he was a private citizen when the child was born.
I think the bigger question is why is this coming out now, who threatened to expose it and why? Was it for money? I highly doubt Arnie just happened, after he left office, to finally find the right time to tell Maria. I think it's more likely he got a heads-up this was bubbling, and felt he had no choice so she wouldn't be blindsided. Arnie and Maria's kids may also have been told at that time. I think the timing of the public release may have come as a surprise to Maria, from the description of the phone call she got at dinner with Oprah last night.
My final thought: Who will be the first media outlet or blogger to publish the child's photo without the face blocked out? I suspect once one person does it, many others will follow.
Update: More misleading reporting: Radar and Star Magazine say Ms. Baena has a lien on her home taken out by an alarm company. As if she's a deadbeat who failed to pay a debt and got sued. That's not what it is. It's a UCC lien for the alarm equipment, not money, filed when she bought the home- - meaning the equipment belongs to them until the financing is paid. It's a five year financing statement. When you purchase an alarm system, you can either purchase the equipment outright, or lease it, paying a small portion monthly plus the monitoring fees. At the end of the lease, the equipment goes back to them.
