By Mike Fleeman
Gigi Goyette, a former child actress who appeared on Little House on the Prairie, claims that she too had an affair with Arnold Schwarzenegger while he was married to Maria Shriver.
In an interview with Extra, Goyette apologizes to Shriver, who recently separated from Schwarzenegger after he admitted to fathering a child with another woman.
“I am very sorry for the mistakes I made in the past and for being intimate with your husband, and I would hope that you would forgive me for that,” Goyette says.
The claim of the affair is not new. It was reported in the National Enquirer in 2001 when Schwarzenegger was first considering a run for governor.
The Los Angeles Times then reported in 2005 that Goyette had been paid $20,000 not to talk to any entity except the National Enquirer, which created controversy for then-Gov. Schwarzenegger because he once had financial ties to the tabloid’s parent company.
“This woman recently sold at least four stories to the tabloids relating to my client,” Schwarzenegger’s attorney Marty Singer tells PEOPLE. “She’s just a person who wants to make money selling stories. Her actions speak for themselves.”
A rep for Shriver declined to comment.
Goyette’s lawyer, Glorid Allred, says the reason her client is coming forward now “is to set the record straight about the nature of her relationship with Arnold.”
According to Allred, Goyette’s relationship with Schwarzenegger began when the actress was 17 years old and continued, with extended hiatuses, until 2000 or 2001.
Asked if Goyette has sold her story to at least four tabloids, Allred had no comment.