Maria Shriver wasn’t the innocent victim in her marriage with Arnold Schwarzenegger as people believed her to be, according to a new report. The former First Lady of California was allegedly in a relationship with her husband’s lead campaign strategist before Schwarzenegger’s old affair with their housekeeper was disclosed to the public.

In 2011, Schwarzenegger’s long-ended affair with the family’s housekeeper, Patty Baena, had been exposed. The Los Angeles Times revealed that the action superstar fathered a son with Baena more than 14 years earlier. The revelation was reported a few days after Shriver and Schwarzenegger ended their 25-year marriage.

Shriver, 58, wasn’t the only betrayed party in the married couple’s relationship, though.

According to Page Six, Shriver had been unfaithful to Schwarzenegger as well while they weren’t separated yet.

She recently stepped out with political analyst Matthew Dowd, whom she has reportedly dating for months already. But sources told the NY Post that their relationship actually started before Schwarzenegger’s affair with the maid was exposed.

“Maria likes to make it appear that she’s the victim, but she’s not,” a source told the site. “The [idea] that they started dating recently is ridiculous.”

Their relationship apparently began in 2006 while Dowd was working on Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial re-election campaign in California.

“There was a lot of flirtation,” a campaign staffer claimed. “They frequently spent time alone, and Arnold was rarely, if ever, around when they were together. She had a unique banter with [Dowd] and lit up when he was around. HE was comfortable poking fun at her, and she would slap him teasingly.”

Schwarzenegger, 67, eventually found out, and pushed Dowd out of his inner circle. Staffers had to choose which side to take, Schwarzenegger’s or Shriver’s. Even after The Governator won the re-election, his wife and Dowd’s affair continued.

And when his own affair with Baena was made public in 2011, his top aide told ex-staffers to stay mum on Shriver’s affair with Dowd, and therefore made it seem that he singlehandedly ruined his marriage.

“He did not want the dirty laundry out there,” a source said.

Dowd, 53, denied the allegations to The Post, saying he was just good friends with Shriver.

Schwarzenegger and Shriver were married in 1986 and have yet to finalise their divorce. They have four children together.