Arnold Schwarzenegger made his first public appearance Tuesday night after he and his wife, Maria Shriver, announced their separation Monday.
Addressing a crowd at an Israeli Independence Day event in Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger said that he and Shriver are taking their relationship "one day at a time."
"I just spoke to Maria an hour ago before I came here, and we both were saying the same thing; we are amazed and extremely blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people and so many wonderful friends," the former California governor said. "We both love each other very much, and we are very fortunate that we have four extraordinary children. And we are taking one day at a time."
Since the announcement, the media has been buzzing with speculation on the reason for the split after 25 years marriage.
TMZ reported that Shriver had been contemplating divorce for two years, but the recent deaths of her father and mother postponed her decision.
RadarOnline speculates that Schwarzenegger's past sexual harassment lawsuits factored into the breakup. A lawsuit filed against him in 2004 was later dismissed, but the actor-turned politician has also been accused of groping several female journalists and engaging in a seven-year affair with former actress Gigi Goyette.
The assistant managing editor of People magazine, Kate Coyne, disagreed.
"Anyone hoping for a sensationalistic tabloid reason behind this is going to be disappointed. There’s no smoking gun, there’s no third party, at least not one that anyone has been able to discover," she said on "The Early Show" Wednesday. "It really does seem to be a situation where Arnold has ended one phase of his career and is launching full-speed ahead into the previous career that he had had, and Maria is really at a loss right now. She's trying to figure out what she wants to do next."
Indeed, in a March 28 YouTube video, Shriver acknowledged that she was having trouble with transition.
"It's so stressful not knowing what you're doing next. When people ask you, 'What are you doing?' and they can't believe that you don't know what you're doing." she said, asking viewers to weigh in on how they handle transition.
Biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher, who also appeared on the "Early Show" and is author of "Why Him, Why Her," attributed the split to personality differences.
"I do think that there's differences between these two personalities that have left her without the romance and without the deep intimacy that she's been looking for many years," she said.
Amidst all the speculation, the question remains: Will they reconcile?
"The door is certainly open," said Coyne. "They've made it clear, this is a separation, not a divorce."
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