tonight on "nightline," arnold's bomb shell. there was talk, but no one imagined the truth. arnold schwarzenegger's stunning double life. we have the inside story of a brazen cover up, how one of the world's most visible men kept a love child secret for more than ten years. size insanity. are you a 4 of a 10? everyone woman's clothing store seems to use its own system of measurement. and the confusion now affects men and babies, too. so, can this machine introduce some sanity in the fitting room? and, soul cycle. can you pedal your way to enlightenme enlightenment? can a doze of inner calm give you rock hard abs? we check out a pricey exercise

fad that is the hottest seat in town. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," may 17th, 2011. >> good evening. on the verge of being elected governor of california, arnold schwarzenegger found him answering charges that he had sexually harassed multiple women. many of the things that are in there are not true, he said. and then other things may be true, and in case they are, that's why i want to apologize, end quote. well, today, almost eight years later, schwarzenegger's apologizing again for other things no one imagined. here's david wright. >> reporter: a week ago, their 25-year marriage, including seven years as the first couple of california, came to an end with a whimper. today, came the inevitable bang. a bombshell disclosure for schwarzenegger himself, that more than a decade ago, he

secretly fathered a child with a household employee. and that the mother of that child remained a daily presence in the lives of maria shriver and the couple's four children, until january, when schwarzenegger left the governor's office. "the new york times" reports tonight, for a time, 14 years ago, both shriver and the mistress were both pregnant with schwarzenegger's kids. after leaving the governor's office, i told my wife about this event, schwarzenegger said today in a statement. i understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. >> we found out a week ago sunday that there was a baby. we didn't punish it on the site because we had called various people in arnold's camp and they flatly denied it. >> reporter: harvey levin of tmz says the first clues came from what shriver was saying. >> maria has been talking to friends about this over the last couple of weeks.

and that's when all of this started to seep out a little bit. so, she herself has been talking. she's been flirting with divorce now for awhile. >> reporter: schwarzenegger is used to ignoring the cameras buzzing around him. so, that cold stare that greeted today's posse was nothing knew. now, his children, all five of them are going to have to develop the same skill. >> i will tell you that the mother of arnold's love child has a price on her head as does the child. and i would guess for the paparazzi who gets the first shot of them and is able to identify it, we're talking half a million and a million dollars. >> reporter: these pictures were taken yesterday outside about l.a. restaurant. hours before schwarzenegger went public with the story. he and his eldest daughter, katherine, just finished a father-daughter chat. today, 21-year-old katherine schwarzenegger tweeted "this is definitely not easy." her 17-year-old brother patrick was even blunter. "some days you feel like

expletive. some dames you want to quit and just be normal for a bit." he recently changed his tweeter name to patrick shriver. >> no! >> reporter: the half brother he just learned about was born about the time his father filmed "clat rat damage." in other words, before arnold schwarzenegger entered politics. the stories of infidelity threatened early on to derail his candidacy. not just allegations of cheating and groping. there were tabloid reports of a love child. schwarzenegger denied them all. here he is on the bus with peter jennings at the height of the 2003 recall campaign. >> isn't it odd that three days, four days before the campaign, all of a sudden, all these women want an apology? isn't it odd? you have common sense, peter. you can figure it out for yourself. i want to thank her so much for being the greatest wife and the most spectacular partner. and i know how many votes i got today because of you. >> reporter: what ultimately

rescued his candidacy was the strong, likable woman at his side. at oprah's side, rebutting the nay sayers with the passion and el low consequence with a kennedy. >> they said, well, she's a kennedy woman and athauls look the other way. >> well, you know, that ticks me off. and -- you know, i am my own woman. i have not been, quote, bred, to look the other way. >> reporter: only today is it clear just how badly he betrayed her. "this is a painful and heartbreaking time," shriver said today in a statement. "as a mother, my concern is for the children. i ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and i try to rebuild our lives and heal." >> when you have money, power and sex, you have an explosive cocktail mix that results in such behavior. but it's aided and abetted by the fact that a lot of the

people are in power are arrogant. they come to believe they're untouchable. >> reporter: schwarzenegger is just the latest in a long list of cull prilts. like the would be french presidential front runner now behind bars at riker's island. all those rumors were just rumors until now. of course, dominique strauss-kahn is now a criminal suspect. schwarzenegger has merely joined the rogue's ghali of fathers of illegitimate children, a pantheon that includes famous rock stars and one-time presidential candidates. democrat and republican. >> part of intimacy in a good marriage is that there's the good and the bad and strengths and weaknesses and successes and failures. and sometimes when somebody is not -- is not open to, you know, the negative feedback or the criticism, they can develop a double life. i don't know if arnold is like that, but it happens a lot of times, where the wife is sort of seen in their head as the critical mother and then they go find somebody that just makes

them feel good all the time. >> reporter: ironically, schwarzenegger himself will likely escape any professional fallout from this. he's now out of politics and back to stardom. fans tend to be more tolerant than voters. and people that shell out money for "terminator" tickets aren't the ones that are terribly sensitive to women's issues? >> he doesn't do and should. do romantic come dips. so, it really is not his target audience. >> reporter: doubtful he'll be doing a sequel of "junior" any time soon. >> there's a baby here. ah -- there must be a mother. >> reporter: indeed, the next few months may be toughest on shriver, who has no doubt left re-evaluating every household encounter for the last ten years. >> he's decided, enough is enough, and that's why we're here today and that's why the revelations have finally come out. >> reporter: her favorite poem is "the journey" by mary oliver. she keeps a copy of it on her

desk. >> one day you finally knew what you had to do and gbegan. though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice. >> reporter: last year, she asked the poet to read it allowed at the annual women's conference she organized. >> and there was a new voice which is sewly recognized as your own, determined to do the only thing you could do. determined to save the only life you could save. >> reporter: hers. she'll now continue her journey without him. i'm david wright for "nightline" in los angeles. >> and you saw that 8-year-old clip of maria defending her husband on "oprah." well, tonight, she appeared at the taping of one of oprah winfrey's final shows, thanking oprah for telling the truth. the host hugged her, said, yes, the truth. to loud applause from the audience. and our thanks to david wright. and just ahead, is this device the solution to frustration and confusion in the

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> in a world measured in inches and teaspoons and milliseconds, we're trained to put a level of trust into uniform sets of numbers. but any woman can tell that you in the world of fashion, there is no such thing as uniform. and men are even starting to see the designers and retailers size clothes to suit our egos rather than our square footage. but sharyn alfonsi may have found a newfangled solution. >> reporter: ah, retail therapy. the thrill of shopping.

but these days, women are dreading the dressing room. the great black hole of a woman's self-esteem. place where in some stores you're a petite size four and in others, you've suddenly become a ten. fed up and on the behalf of confused women everywhere, we launched an investigation. tell me what you found when you go shopping. >> retailers take what should be a six and call it a four to make women feel a little better about themselves. >> reporter: stephanie clifford is the retail reporter from "the new york times." there's a name for it. vanity sizing. dtailored to our hips, not our heads. >> there's so much confusion in the marketplace. >> reporter: you end up on the floor crying. but it's not us. it's the clothes. >> it's the clothes and the lack of standard sizing. >> reporter: so i decided to raid some racks and put a few brands to the test. we grabbed jeans in the same size from the gap ann taylor and

chico's. >> there's no question that for some who are vulnerable to real difficulties regarding body image, the size matters. numbers matter. numbers on the scale matter, numbers on the back of clothing tacks matter. >> reporter: consider a woman with a 27-inch waste. at marc jacobs, she's an 8 or 10. at chico's, she's a triple zero. why do you think there's such an obsession with the number? >> as people started to get bigger they wanted to feel -- >> reporter: smaller. >> smaller. >> reporter: this woman makes a living as a fit model. >> i try on clothing for different designers and basically i work as their human mannequ mannequin. >> reporter: her job is to be the perfect size eight. >> these are eights. >> reporter: she's the human mold for the clothes you're wearing. your body type twin. >> so, this is the magic. these are a six. and as you can see, they fit me pretty much the same way, if not

a little bigger than the eights. >> reporter: retailers are messing with men's sizes and minds, too. >> you'll find extra large, extra extra large, which is sort of their equivalent of our 00 -- >> they want to be larger. >> they don't want to be tiny like us. >> reporter: and now may may be starting to toy with baby sizes, which is why your three month old may be wearing a size labeled for a nine month old. >> if you're a mom and you have a three month old and that baby is fitting into six month, nine month clothing, you feel really good. >> reporter: where does it end? >> it doesn't. >> reporter: according to the national retail federation in 2010, there were $194 billion worth of apparel returns. that's nearly 1 in 10 purchases. an industry experts say most were due to sizing. so, wait, what size amount i really? this machine just might have the answer.

tsa, right? >> not quite. >> reporter: called my best fit. it a new device that will size you up, literally. there's only one in the country, at the king of prussia mall. i tried it. i feel like i should have got spray tanned in there. it scans your body, taking 200,000 different body measurements. customers get a print out of what size and style fits them best. my results? i can get a gold curve boot. armed with my best ticket, i headed to levi's. their genes come in a slight, demi, bold and supreme fit. they call it their curve i.d. wish me luck. i think these might actually fit. they fit, right? my levi's were a perfect fit. no drama today. i'm a bold! for "nightline," sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. >> our thanks to sharyn alfonsi

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the path to enlightenment is long, they say. well, here's a zen riddle what if you start with it? where does the path go from there? would you believe six-pack abs? tonight, jeremy hubbard goes on a candle-lit fitness quit, and believe it or not, it's a "sign of the times." >> reporter: you've made it inside one of the most exclusive hot spots in new york city. there's a waiting list to get in. a-listers vying for the best seats in the house. they just happen to be bicycle seats.

thousands of people a week are now fighting to get into this extreme spin class here at soul cycle. they've somehow turned cardio into a cult. riding into a religion. >> people cry all the time. i can't tell you how many e-mails and phone calls we get, you know, i left my therapist, i don't need to go there anymore. >> reporter: julie and elizabeth first started soul cycle with the idea of turning that plain old spin class into an experience. turn down the lights, fire up the candles, fill the room with calm. make it more spiritual than physical. then, somehow, while you're lost in that zen moment, the instructors torture you with a blubber-busting workout that burns up to 700 calories in just 45 minutes. extreme spinning is suddenly extremely popular, especially with celebrities. kelly ripa goes there, katie holmes and tom cruise have tried it, too. and when chelsea clinton wanted

to look perfect in her wedding dress, she came here. and anyone is welcome. if you can pony up the cost. this physical and spiritual workout isn't cheap. >> cost are $32. and in new york city, we joke it's the cost of two cocktails or inexpensive personal training. >> reporter: it's not too much to keep away the masses. the classes with the best instructors sell out in a matter of minutes. and they have seven locations around the big apple and the hamptons, one in miami and this fall, they lost in l.a. they're mind, body, spirit approach may seem like a gimmick, but as recent fads in the $20 billion a career fitness industry show, gimmicks work. there's the zumba classes and yoga in a really, really hot room. sees we are as looking for a new take on an old workout. soul cycle devotees wear by it.

>> i've lost 54 pounds in about 13 months. >> reporter: and how hard can this one really be? i suited up with one of soul cycle's most popular instructors to find out. >> don't be scared. you're going to sweat a lot. it may be painful. there's going to be feelings good, bad, ugly. >> hop on like a horse. see, you're a natural. >> reporter: i guess. once strapped in and swaying to the music, it was only a matter of time before i was keeping up with the rest of this hard core class. then, it set in, the burning, the sweat, the nausea, bubbling up inside this wildly out of shape body. halfway through with the rest of the class feeling zen, i was feeling faint. i spent the next 20 minutes in the restroom having a decidedly less than religious experience. guess the cult of cardio isn't for everyone. the good news, one of the best seats in the house is finally open and it's all yours. i'm jeremy hubbardor