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Housekeeper who had baby with Schwarzenegger revealed

Merry Christmas, Maria!

“Terminator” star Arnold Schwarzenegger and his housekeeper Mildred “Patty” Baena are the very picture of a happy couple in a 2000 Christmas photo — but behind their smiles was a shocking secret.

At the time, they had a 3-year-old love child they were keeping secret from everyone — including the action star’s wife, Kennedy heiress Maria Shriver.

Adding insult to injury, Baena is apparently holding Shriver’s and Schwarzenegger’s son, Christopher — the half-brother of Baena’s boy, who was born just five days after Christopher.

The picture and stunning new details about the tawdry affair emerged yesterday — after lying hidden for more than 13 years, through Schwarzenegger’s two successful runs for California governor.

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Shriver knew for a while her husband was unfaithful and she sought consolation from the very woman Schwarzenegger was cheating with, Baena’s former daughter-in-law told The Post last night.

“[Baena] would always tell us how Maria would cry to her about Arnold’s affairs,” said Nora Vella, 29.

“She said she would try and comfort Maria and tell her that this is who Arnold has always been and that it’s just who he is and that she should accept it,” Vella said.

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Schwarzenegger, 63, reportedly fired his hefty, hot-to-trot housekeeper about a month ago in a desperate bid to save his marriage.

But his plan backfired and brought an abrupt end to his long deception.

“She was working for Arnold and Maria until about four weeks ago. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she was told there was no longer work for her,” a source told RadarOnline.com, refuting earlier claims that Baena had decided to retire after 20 years of service.

“[Patty] took it hard,” the source said. But a scorned Baena, 50, didn’t cower in front of the powerful former governor.

The fuming baby mama threatened to go public about their love child, forcing Schwarzenegger to fess up to his wife, the Web site reported.

While it isn’t clear if Baena followed through on her threat, a friend of hers told Radar the battle with Schwarzenegger was “a nuclear blow-up.”

Patty “was furious that the father of her . . . son would callously fire her from a job after decades of loyal service,” the friend said.

“She admitted to friends how she finally wanted to tell the secret, that she had kept faithfully for 14 years, to the world.”

Getting sacked was the final straw for Baena, who had gone to extreme lengths to hide the fact that the former Mr. Universe was her baby daddy — and that they enjoyed unprotected, afternoon sex in his Brentwood manse.

Her deception began when the boy was born.

On his birth certificate, Baena identified the father as her then-husband — Rogelio de Jesus Baena.

Just three weeks later, California court documents show, Baena and Rogelio separated after nine years of marriage.

Baena remained married to him for another 10 years, before filing for divorce in February 2008.

At that time she provided the first hint the boy had a different dad.

In her divorce suit she claimed she shared “no minor children” with Rogelio.

In another bid to cover up the truth, Baena told neighbors until this week that the father of her son — who strongly resembles Schwarzenegger — is her current partner, a man named Alex Aguiar, sources said.

“Everyone thought [the boy] was Arnold’s kid,” Vella insisted.

“He had the gapped teeth and the jaw and no one else in the family had blond hair,” she said. Despite Baena’s persistent denials of an affair, she would always act “giddy like a little girl” when she mentioned his name, according to her former relative.

Baena, born in Guatemala, was previously married to a man named Humberto Rozo, whom she sued for divorce in a Los Angeles court in 1985, according to public records.

Soon afterward, in 1987, now with three children, she was married again — this time to Rogelio Baena, an immigrant from Colombia.

Fours years later, Baena took the job at Schwarzenegger’s home that resulted in still another child.

On Sept. 27, 1997, Shriver gave birth to Christopher. Just five days later, on Oct. 2, Baena bore her son.

Schwarzenegger didn’t learn that Baena’s son was his until the child was a toddler, TMZ.com said.

Last week, Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced they were separating, but did not disclose the reason.

People magazine reported that she hired a divorce lawyer before news of the affair came out, although she hasn’t made a definite decision on ending the marriage. Monday night, while dining with close friend Oprah Winfrey, Shriver got a call alerting her to the fact that Schwarzenegger confirmed to The LA Times that he fathered Baena’s baby.

A devastated Shriver quickly left dinner to deal with the imminent media bombshell.

But by Tuesday night, Shriver had regained her composure and made a dramatic appearance in front of a crowd of 15,000 in Chicago for the star-studded taping of one of Winfrey’s last shows, to be aired next week.

Looking stunning in a glittering blue dress, Shriver told Winfrey on stage, “For more than 30 years you have bestowed upon me the most amazing friendship.

“You have shown love, support, wisdom and, most of all,” Shriver said — drawing the next words out in a clear, pointed reference to her philandering husband — “the truth.”

And the crowd went wild.