High (In)Fidelity: Famous Cheaters

The most scandalized men – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse James, John Edwards and more – who strayed
By Janet Mock and Cara Lynn Shultz
Updated April 29, 2010 06:05 PM

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ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Credit: Gold Wong/FilmMagic

The sudden split of the political power couple – he, the former governor of California and she, a member of the Kennedy dynasty – took a shocking turn when Schwarzenegger admitted that he fathered a child out of wedlock with a staffer 10 years ago. The indiscretion reportedly prompted Shriver to move out of the couple's Brentwood, Calif., home after 25 years of marriage. "This is a painful and heartbreaking time," Shriver said, responding to the news.

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BILL CLINTON

Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage;INSET:Landov

The 42nd President reportedly had dalliances with Ginnifer Flowers and Paula Jones before entering the White House, but it was his affair in 1998 with 23-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky that rocked his marriage to Hillary and led to his subsequent impeachment. "I think I did it," he later wrote, "just because I could."

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JOHN F. KENNEDY

Credit: AP;INSET:Everett

Clinton wasn't the first executive officer to be plagued with affair allegations: John F. Kennedy's rumored romance with Marilyn Monroe hit a fervor in 1962 when the bombshell sauntered onto the stage to serenade him with "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in 1962.

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JUDE LAW

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Mere months after popping the question to Alfie costar Sienna Miller in 2005, the hunky Brit had a month-long affair with his children's 26-year-old nanny Daisy Wright. Law publicly apologized to a humiliated Miller, who eventually called off their engagement.

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FRANK GIFFORD

Credit: Dave Allocca/Startraks

In 1997, Gifford's afternoon romp with flight attendant Suzen Johnson in an N.Y.C. hotel made for juicy tabloid copy and caused his wife of 11 years, Kathie Lee, "horrendous, devastating" pain. Eventually the Live co-host forgave her "human love machine" via sex "because each time you make love," she told PEOPLE in 2000, "that person feels forgiven and you feel restored and loved again."

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KOBE BRYANT

Credit: Kevin Mazur/Wireimage

Months after welcoming his first of two girls with wife Vanessa, the Lakers superstar admitted to sleeping with a 19-year-old hotel concierge in 2003 – who later accused Bryant of rape. With a new, sparkling $4 million ring on her finger, Vanessa stood his side as he dealt with a messy trial, which was eventually dismissed.

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RUDY GIULIANI

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Just before 9/11, N.Y.C. mayor Rudy Giuliani announced on TV that he was leaving his wife of 16 years, Donna Hanover (left), to move on with mistress Judy Nathan. In 2002, Hanover received a $6.8 million divorce settlement and Giuliani married Nathan – who supported his run for President in 2008.

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TIGER WOODS

Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/Landov

More than a dozen women detailed their sexual trysts with the golf great in 2009, which damaged his reputation and jeopardized his million-dollar endorsement deals and marriage to Elin Nordegren. Woods, who apologized and entered rehab, eventually returned to the green.

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JESSE JAMES

Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

News of James's affair with Michelle "Bombshell" McGee led to the end of his nearly five-year marriage to newly-minted Sandra Bullock. "It would be selfish to not let her go," James said as Bullock moved forward to adopt son Louis.

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DONALD TRUMP

Credit: Ron Galella/WireImage(2)

After 12 years together as the reigning king and queen of New York's social scene, The Donald made headlines in 1990 for his dalliances with aspiring actress Marla Maples. "Best Sex I've Ever Had," the New York Post headlines quoted Trump as saying – and his estranged wife soon called her divorce lawyer. A year later, Trump married Maples, but they split in 1999.

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EDDIE FISHER

Credit: Getty

Fisher and wife Debbie Reynolds were dear friends with the late Elizabeth Taylor, whose third husband was killed in a plane crash in 1958. "My dad flew to Elizabeth's side, making his way slowly to her front," Carrie Fisher wrote in the Daily Mail. He soon became Taylor's fourth husband, and they divorced in 1964.

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ELLIOT SPITZER

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With wife Silda by his side, the New York governor announced his resignation in 2008 after a New York Times report linked him to a prostitution ring and a call girl named Ashley Alexandra Dupré. "I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people's work," Spitzer said – and he and Silda are still together.

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ERIC BENéT

Credit: Kim D. Johnson/AP

After less than two years of marriage to Halle Berry, the singer checked into an Arizona rehab clinic for sex addiction in 2002. After telling PEOPLE, "All marriages are challenging and complicated," this one proved too difficult, and Berry filed for divorce in 2004. "It was like the Titanic going down," Benét later said.

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JIM BAKKER

Credit: AP;INSET:Yvonne Hemsey/Getty

A 1987 tryst with church secretary Jessica Hahn destroyed the multimillion-dollar Praise the Lord ministry built by evangelist Bakker and wife Tammy Faye, but their marriage survived – for five more years. Still, her decision to divorce Bakker wasn't without its own scandal: Tammy Faye was linked to her husband's (married) pal Roe Messner at the time of the split, and the two would later wed.

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HUGH GRANT

Credit: Alpha/Globe; Los Angeles Police Department (inset)

Busted! In 1995, Grant – then six years into a romance with Elizabeth Hurley – got cuffed for soliciting Hollywood prostitute Divine Brown. Later he went on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, admitting he did "a bad thing." Apparently, it was a forgivable thing: Hurley took him back, and they dated until 2000.

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JOHN EDWARDS

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The former presidential candidate admitted to cheating on his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth with campaign staffer Rielle Hunter – and by early 2010, he also confessed that he fathered Hunter's 2-year-old daughter Quinn. After three decades of marriage, Elizabeth filed for separation. Nearly a year later, she lost her battle with breast cancer in December 2010 at age 61.

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By Janet Mock and Cara Lynn Shultz