Every town has its secrets. The difference in Los Angeles is that some of the secrets here relate to world-famous celebrities. It’s fair to say that hardly anyone in town knew that Arnold Schwarzenegger had fathered a child with a member of his household staff. But it’s equally true that there are other rumors — what Donald Rumsfeld might call “known unknowns” — that have been floating around years, decades even, that could come to light, if the scandal escalates, which, based on the volume of news reports in both legit and gossip outlets, appears to be what is happening.

Just in the past few days, the baby mama has been identified as Patty Baena, the Schwarzeneggers’ housekeeper for 20 years. Local news in Los Angeles found the McMansion Schwarzenegger bought her in Bakersfield, and neighbor interviewed by local reporters praised the son as being extremely well-mannered.

Maria Shriver has hired a divorce attorney, although sources say Shriver, who is Catholic, has not yet decided whether to proceed with divorce, which is astounding, if true. Meanwhile, her son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, 17, changed his last name to Shriver on his Twitter account.

And this one had to hurt: TMZ reports that Maria Shriver and Patty Baena were pregnant at the same time. Maria’s son Christopher was born on Sept. 27, 1997 and Baena’s son was born five days later, on Oct. 2, 1997.

In a prepared statement earlier this week, Schwarzenegger said, “There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused,” Schwarzenegger said, in a prepared statement. “I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family, and I am truly sorry.”

Reacting on Monday to Schwarzenegger’s statement, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote, “Sorry he did it or sorry he got caught? And are there any more surprises out there?”

So are there any more surprises out there? Well, as noted, there are rumors.

First, for the sake of context, here are the charges against him that were revealed by the Times a couple of weeks five days prior to the 2003 recall election:

The initial Times report told the story of six women who said that the star had touched them in a suggestive or aggressive manner without their consent.

That story prompted others to come forward. Eventually, a total of 16 women, 11 of them giving their names, described physical humiliations suffered at the hands of the man who was running to replace Gray Davis as governor in the recall election.

Here is a report about two of them that was published in the London Daily Mail that year:

Among those who have made allegations against the actor is LWT [London Weekend Television] presenter Anna Richardson, who claims he ran his hand over her breast when she was interviewing him in a suite at the Dorchester Hotel.

Another British presenter, Denise Van Outen, was also touched by Schwarzenegger when she interviewed him on Channel Four’s Big Breakfast programme – though she has not spoken about the incident today.

Ms Richardson, who presented LWT shows including Big Screen and sex advice programme Love Bites, said she met Schwarzenegger before the Dorchester interview in December 2000 and found him “a perfect gentleman.”

But on that occasion Schwarzenegger, promoting his film The Sixth Day, was “quite different.”

She said: “He was already kind of hyped up. He kept looking at my breasts, asking if I worked out.

“I went to shake his hand and he grabbed me onto his knee and said, ‘Before you go, I want to know if your breasts are real.'”

Richardson, who was 29 at the time, said she looked around the room for help, but none came.

“At that point, he circled my left nipple with his finger and he said, ‘Yes they are real.'”

The behavior attributed to Schwarzenegger in the rumors goes far beyond just touching and frat-boy harassment, and so the stories on the record do not bolster the stories that are whispered about in Hollywood.

But first…

What follows are unsubstantiated rumors. If reading unsubstantiated rumors hurts your feelings or offends your journalistic ethics, do not continue reading. We cannot vouch for these stories and they are intended here to facilitate feelings of schadenfreude and/or for entertainment value only.

• Like so many other players, Schwarzenegger is rumored to define extramarital sex strictly as vaginal intercourse, meaning that everything else is fair game — not adultery — including a sex act he calls “plow chops.”
• He purportedly has many one night stands before he was governor, presumably involving plow chops, but also a few LTRs, including one allegedly with a stewardess.
• There is purportedly at least one other love child — this one would be a teenager by now. This story was apparently reported in a tabloid years ago (although a quick search of the web did not produce it), accompanied by a photo of the boy, who was a dead ringer for Schwarzenegger.
• Another, potentially more-damaging rumor — it’s unlikely Schwarzenegger could have been elected governor if it were true and if it had come to light before 2003 — involved unsavory activities on movie sets and an “unwritten rider” in his contracts. It is said his involvement in the activities nearly came to light when a scandal erupted around a key figure who was enabling the activities.

Still, even if these and other stories come out, it’s doubtful they will affect Schwarzenegger’s movie career. In fact, new rumors are circulating that two more installments of the “Terminator” franchise starring Schwarzenegger has sparked a bidding war — which, if true, mean that apparently there will be superannuated androids with orange hair plugs in the future.