A third woman has now come forward to claim an affair with Arnold Schwarzenegger -- and this one is definitely headline-worthy!
Brigitte Nielsen, the Danish B-movie actress who was once married to Sylvester Stallone and more recently dated Flavor Flav, says that she was also involved with Schwarzenegger in the mid-'80s. Nielsen, 47, claims she was involved with the actor during the making of Red Sonja, her 1985 film debut (which Schwarzenegger, now 63, has called "the worst film I have ever made"). Arnold wasn't yet married to Maria Shriver, but they were seriously dating -- a fact that Nielsen says he didn't mention at the time.
"He never spoke about her -- and the way he was living his life with me, I felt I was the only one," Nielsen tells U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail. "Then I realized about him and Maria and, wow, I felt cheated. Maybe I wouldn't have got into it if he said, 'I'm going to marry Maria and this is dead serious' -- but he didn't, and our affair carried on."
Although Nielsen says Arnold wasn't entirely honest, her memories of the affair -- which began with an instant attraction -- are mostly positive.
"Since we both knew that it wouldn't last beyond the movie, we didn't hold back," she recalls. "We wanted to try everything and so we did. There were no restrictions, no promises, nothing, and it was a great time in my life."
Nielsen believes that Schwarzenegger was in love with her at the time ("I think so"), recalling a "beautiful over-the-top present" he gave her when she left the country for Christmas -- although she's keeping the details private. But she also enjoyed spending time with him on set, and says his political ambitions were in place even then.
"Arnold at the time was a lot of fun," Nielsen remembers. "He was very professional and had a very sarcastic sense of humor. He told me at the beginning of shooting Red Sonja, 'One day, I will become governor of California,' and we were all laughing. But I had a feeling he would do it one day."
Shortly after her reported affair with Schwarzenegger, Nielsen met and married Stallone. Looking back, she's certain that Schwarzenegger never intended to propose to her.
"Absolutely not," says Nielsen with a laugh. "If he had, he wouldn't have become governor of California."
