Arnold Schwarzenegger has confirmed he had a “hot affair” with actress Brigitte Nielsen at a time when he and Maria Shriver were already living together.

Schwarzenegger and Nielsen co-starred in the 1985 film Red Sonja. Nielsen wrote in a memoir published last year that she and Schwarzenegger had an “outrageous affair” while making the movie and she did not know until later he was involved with Shriver.

In his memoir, Total Recall, My Unbelievably True Life Story, due to be published today, Schwar-zenegger writes that he and Nielsen did indeed have a “hot affair”, but he knew it would not last.

In fact, their “fling” only made him realise that he wanted to marry Shriver. Nielsen would soon marry Sylvester Stallone.

He also writes that Shriver was criticised by her mother for trying to persuade him against running for Governor of California in 2003 – a confrontation that ultimately opened the door to his successful candidacy.

Total Recall is part of Schwarzenegger’s attempt to rebrand himself after leaving office with a mixed record and embarrassing revelations about a fling he had with the family’s housekeeper that produced a son, Joseph, who is now about 14.

The actor said he avoided telling his wife about the child for years, even when she asked him, partly because of his long-time penchant for secrecy and his fear that the news would become public and undermine his political career.