I spent far too much of my morning learning more than I or any other detached citizen needed to know about who the media had decided had been the mother(s) of Arnold Schwarzenegger's child(ren).  I saw pictures, first of a flight attendant and then of a recently retired housekeeper, conjectures over possible offspring, and pictures of those children pulled from pages of social media.

The woman whose identity was all over the global media overnight as the twenty-year housekeeper for the Schwarzeneggers with a son who looked remarkably like the former Governor had her personal photos ripped from a MySpace page that was still intact this morning (as of this writing, it continues to be intact), from an album entitled "my sexy self."  

Mostly, I found myself really incredibly sorry for the children.  All the children. The children of Arnold and Maria, and any other children that might have resulted from an indiscreet liason with someone not his wife. 

While the stigmatization and scrutiny of children caught in the crosshairs might be difficult in any generation, it's an entirely different animal in the age of social media.

The Schwarzenegger children are tweeting.  Not only are they tweeting, they're venting on Twitter, they're expressing love for their family, they're trying to survive.

KSchwarzenegger KSchwarzenegger 

This is definitely not easy but I appreciate your love and support as i begin to heal and move forward in life.I will always love my family!

17 May   

With young people participating actively in social media today, it's challenging to know how to protect them when scandals break, particularly scandals played out in the public press. The Schwarzenegger children are no strangers to fame or media, sprung from the loins of the Kennedy-Shriver dynasty and a famous body builder-cum-action hero-cum politician whose name and fortune is recognizable worldwide. 

Other children might not have that familiarity, including any purported illegitimate child of their father's.  

Their mother, a respected journalist, has continued to use her maiden name throughout her marriage, even as First Lady of the California.  It is a name that has always carried weight and a particular brand identity in this country in recent decades, the names Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver synonymous with service, Special Olympics, and dedication to family and country.

Their father's name and brand has also been not only recognizable but valuable, a brand he built through a film career and a career as Republican governor of the eighth largest economy in the world, a name once touted by the likes of Orrin Hatch for even higher office if the laws governing foreign-born aspirants could be changed.

Schwarzenegger.  Shriver.  Both huge brands with enormous name recognition and positive appeal.  Until now.

So it was with some sadness but also empathy I noticed that one of the Schwarzenegger children, Patrick, has, at least for the sake of his Twitter account, changed his name.

To Shriver.

PSchwarzenegger Patrick Shriver 

some days you feel like shit, some days you want to quit and just be normal for a bit, yet i love my family till death do us apart. #family

17 May

I feel for these kids, all of them.  The kids of Arnold and Maria, and every other child in the world under the same circumstance who just discovered that they were part of a family secret, have siblings they might not have known about, or other scandal touching them, and the kids born in secret who learn later about the truth of their parentage.  For one, finally getting that family name and recognition might be valuable, something to be desired.  For the other, the name itself might suddenly be a burden.

Social media has changed the rules of engagement in today's world.  These kids are exposed in ways they never were before.  Can I blame one for wanting to change his name, at least temporarily?

Not at all.

We should all change our names to Shriver. 

photo of Maria Shriver courtesy Facebook