Politicians and their 'love children'

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Politicians and their 'love children'

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the first politician to have an illegitimate child.

With news of Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife of 25 years Maria Shriver separating still fresh, now the former California governor and 'Terminator' actor has revealed he had a child with a former household staff member 10 years ago. Of course, Arnold certainly isn't the first politician to father a child out of wedlock. Here's a look at more political paternity scandals.

Former N.C. Senator John Edwards was a rising star for the Democrats. Then it was revealed Edwards was having a torrid affair with campaign worker Rielle Hunter, while his wife, Elizabeth, fought a battle with terminal cancer. After lying repeatedly, he finally admitted the affair and the existence of a love child with Hunter. Elizabeth Edwards died in 2010. To add to the ick factor, a sex tape exists involving Edwards and Hunter while she was pregnant with their love child.

Perhaps the oddest political love child of all time, staunch segregationist and longtime South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond fathered a daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams (seen on right), with his family's teenaged African-American maid in 1925. Thurmond was 22 at the time and unmarried. The news of his biracial love child wasn't revealed until after his death in 2003.

Peter Orszag was the 37th Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama. Claire Milonas, daughter of Greek shipping magnate Spiros Milonas, had Orszag's love child in 2009. The couple had split up when she was three months pregnant. He later married TV journalist Bianna Golodryga.

Nan P. Britton claimed that she had a love child with Warren G. Harding shortly before he was elected president, though the paternity of the child was never proven. Britton wrote what some consider the first "kiss and tell" book. Harding had a reputation as a womanizer, even during his lackluster marriage to Florence Kling DeWolfe, but there were rumors that he was sterile.

While Grover Cleveland campaigned during the 1884 election, he paid child support to Maria Crofts Halpin, even though he may not have been the father of her son. One reason given for the unusual arrangement was that Cleveland was the only bachelor of the several men who may have been the father. Cleveland went on to win the election, and entered the White House as a bachelor, though he married Frances Folsom during his first term.

Utah Senator Arthur Brown was involved in a wild scandal around the turn of the 20th century. He had an affair with Anne Bradley and reportedly fathered two children with her. When Brown's second wife died of cancer, Bradley assumed Brown would marry her. But he kept postponing the wedding date, and when Bradley found letters Brown had written to another woman, Bradley shot and killed him. She claimed temporary insanity and was acquitted. Brown's will renounced Bradley and the two sons.

Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founding fathers, admitted to an illegitimate son in 1730, when he was 24. The identity of the mother was never known, but the child was raised by Franklin and common-law wife Deborah Read. The son broke ties with his father due to his Loyalist allegiance. He eventually went into exile in Britain, never to return.

In January 2001, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson admitted he had a then-20-month-old daughter from an extra-marital affair.

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With news of Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife of 25 years Maria Shriver separating still fresh, now the former California governor and 'Terminator' actor has revealed he had a child with a former household staff member 10 years ago. Of course, Arnold certainly isn't the first politician to father a child out of wedlock. Here's a look at more political paternity scandals.

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