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1 3 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 5 Tabloid's Deal With Woman Shielded Schwarzenegger
By Peter Nicholas and Carla Hall SACRAMENTO — Days after Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped into the race for governor and girded for questions about his past, a tabloid publisher wooing him for a business deal promised to pay a woman $20,000 to sign a confidentiality agreement about an alleged affair with the candidate.
American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, signed a friend of the woman to a similar contract about the alleged relationship for $1,000. American Media's contract with Gigi Goyette of Malibu is dated Aug. 8, 2003, two days after Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy on a late-night talk show. Under the agreement, Goyette must disclose to no one but American Media any information about her "interactions" with Schwarzenegger. American Media never solicited further information from Goyette or her friend, Judy Mora, also of Malibu, both women said. The Enquirer had published a cover story two years earlier describing an alleged seven-year sexual relationship between Goyette and Schwarzenegger during his marriage to Maria Shriver, California's first lady. On Aug. 14, 2003, as candidate Schwarzenegger was negotiating a consulting deal with American Media, the company signed its contract with Mora, who said she received $1,000 cash in return. Goyette declined to say whether she received the $20,000 promised in her contract. Rob Stutzman, the governor's communications director, said he believed Schwarzenegger did not know of American Media's deals with the women. Schwarzenegger is on vacation and not available for comment, Stutzman said. Stutzman denied any link between AMI's deal with Schwarzenegger and the company's agreements with the two women. "There is no connection with his business with AMI or AMI's business of purchasing the rights to stories," Stutzman said. "That's what they do. Obviously, part of their business is the tabloid business." The women might have been in a position to embarrass Schwarzenegger in his bid for the governor's office. When Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy on "The Tonight Show," he speculated that he would face accusations of infidelity. Host Jay Leno asked if he was prepared for a bruising campaign, and Schwarzenegger replied: "I know that they're going to throw everything at me and they're going, you know, to say that I have no experience and that I'm a womanizer and that I'm a terrible guy, and all these kinds of things are going to come my way." But American Media was effectively protecting Schwarzenegger's political interests, said a person who worked at the company when the contracts were signed. At the same time, American Media was crafting a deal to make Schwarzenegger executive editor of Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazines, helping to lure readers and advertisers. If American Media was buying exclusive rights to the women's stories, said the person, who has a confidentiality agreement with the company and spoke on condition of anonymity, "why didn't the stories run? That's the obvious question." "AMI systematically bought the silence" of the women, said the person. Schwarzenegger "was a de facto employee and he was important to their bottom line." Schwarzenegger biographer Laurence Leamer wrote in his book, "Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger," that Schwarzenegger understood the tabloids would not skewer him if he was entering a business relationship with the company — although Schwarzenegger told Leamer he did not specifically seek such assurances. Indeed, during the recall campaign, American Media put out a 120-page magazine celebrating Schwarzenegger as an embodiment of the "American dream." The Enquirer did run a story repeating allegations in the British media that Schwarzenegger had an extramarital affair. The story was published first on its website before the election, and then in the newspaper three weeks after his election victory. But it was not prominently displayed, running on Page 24. American Media, which did not respond to repeated requests for comment, reached its agreement with Schwarzenegger on Nov. 15, 2003, two days before he was sworn in as governor. The deal was to pay him, by the company's estimates, at least $8 million over five years and no less than $5 million. Schwarzenegger dropped the contract last month after the arrangement was made public in the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee. He said he plans to continue writing a monthly column for the two magazines. American Media's contracts with Goyette and Mora, both titled "Confidentiality Agreement," are two pages long and never expire; they bind the two women "in perpetuity." Goyette's agreement states that she is not to disclose "conversations with Schwarzenegger, her interactions with Schwarzenegger or anything else relating in any way to any relationship [she] ever had with Schwarzenegger," except to American Media. Mora's contract bars her from disclosing anything about Goyette's "conversations with Schwarzenegger … interactions with Schwarzenegger or anything else relating in any way to any relationship Gigi Goyette ever had or alleged to have had with Schwarzenegger." In an interview with The Times last week, with her lawyer present, Goyette said of Schwarzenegger "we're very good friends — and work associates." Goyette has spent much of her life living in Malibu and grew up, she said, working as an extra on Hollywood film and TV productions. Today she acts occasionally in commercials. She said she last communicated with Schwarzenegger in the spring of 2001, before the National Enquirer published its story. Goyette did not dispute an account of her relationship in Leamer's biography of Schwarzenegger, published two months ago. Like the National Enquirer, Leamer's book says Goyette and Schwarzenegger had a periodic intimate relationship. In the book, Leamer says Goyette and Schwarzenegger got together yearly at the Arnold Fitness Weekend in Columbus, Ohio, where she helped with events. Leamer writes that Goyette described her contact with Schwarzenegger with the term " 'outercourse' because it's like foreplay." The interaction, she told him, was "whatever we wanted it to be." Goyette's lawyer, Charlotte Hassett, told The Times: "She maintained it was more of a massage situation — however you want to interpret that." Margita Thompson, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, declined to discuss the relationship. "I'm not going to characterize the relationship," Thompson said. Two years after the Enquirer published its article about the relationship, Goyette told The Times, she heard from the tabloid again. In late July 2003 — as speculation was brewing over whether Schwarzenegger would enter the recall race for governor — Goyette said she got a call from reporter David Wright, who had written the 2001 story. Goyette said Wright talked casually about the possibility of publishing a book on her life and that a division of American Media might be interested. Goyette was and still is eager to write a book — not a tell-all about Schwarzenegger, she said, but a chronicle of her life in the entertainment industry, from her days as a film and TV extra and a commercial actress to her life now as a 46-year-old single mother and PTA member with a teenage son. That conversation "was a teaser," said Goyette, who gave Wright a manuscript. Goyette said she heard nothing further until Wright called her on what she believes was Aug. 6 or 7, 2003 — just as Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy — and asked if she could meet with someone from the company right away. Wright declined The Times' requests for comment, saying, "I can't help you with that." Goyette said that, unaccompanied by a lawyer or anyone else, she met an American Media representative at a Starbucks near her Malibu home, looked the agreement over hastily and signed it. She said she did not believe American Media would purchase the rights to her story and then do nothing with it. She thought signing the pledge would be the prelude to a book deal. "In my mind, it was trying to seal a deal so I wouldn't do the book with anybody else," she told The Times. "That was my feeling in my heart and in my mind." Hassett added later: "She has reason to believe that she was manipulated by the actions of the people at National Enquirer." The contract that bears Goyette's signature makes no mention of a book project. Goyette's recollection was that she signed a three-page contract. She said she did not get a copy until several weeks later, via fax, and it was two pages. The contract was sealed just when interest in her story was peaking. Once Schwarzenegger's campaign was launched, the media quickly dug up the 2001 National Enquirer article. She was besieged by reporters. They were "in front of my house. In front of my school. In front of the coffee shop," she said. "I didn't answer anyone's questions." "A lot of people have offered me a lot of money to tell my story," she said. "I always said 'No comment' and turned everybody down." Before she signed her contract, Goyette gave an interview to the BBC that aired after the contract was sealed. On Sept. 3, 2003 — after signing the contract but before receiving a copy of it, Hassett said — Goyette was quoted in a story by Fox News. "She conducted herself in a way that a person who thought she had a book deal would act," Hassett said. Mora, 50, said her first dealings with the National Enquirer took place when the tabloid was preparing the 2001 story on Goyette. The Enquirer, she said in an interview, "only wanted me to establish that she really knew him." When the Enquirer reporter called, she said, she told him Goyette had pictures of Schwarzenegger around her house and had told her of how she worked with Schwarzenegger at his fitness exhibition. Mora also said Goyette introduced her to Schwarzenegger once, at a Santa Monica restaurant he used to own. Mora said she received a call from someone from the National Enquirer soon after Goyette's confidentiality contract was signed. The male caller, whose name she said she could not remember, offered her $1,000 to sign a confidentiality agreement of her own. "They said, 'Would you be willing to agree to not say anything else?' " Mora recalled. "And I remember at the time saying something like, 'Uh, yeah. I don't know anything else.' They said, 'We paid her an additional $20,000, and if we give you $1,000 will you not say anything?' And I said, 'Sure, I don't know anything.' " The next day in Los Angeles, Mora said, she met with a woman who gave her an envelope containing $1,000 cash. She said her recollection was imperfect, but she thinks it was then she signed the contract. The document gives Mora's name as Judy Walker, a name she said she sometimes used. The signature says Judy Mora, as does the name printed by hand below it. Mora said she does not have a copy of the document. 1 7 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 5 TV show to air claims about governor
In 4 p.m. broadcast today, ex-actress will deny she was Schwarzenegger's mistress
By Gary Delsohn Gigi Goyette, the former child television actress who claims she had periodic sexual encounters with
According to a press release put out Monday by the tabloid news show "Inside Edition," Goyette tells her interviewer the publishers "wanted me to believe that it was a book deal, but, in fact, it was they really wanted to keep me quiet until after the election for fear that I had something bad to say about Arnold, which I don't." Schwarzenegger's press office declined comment on the interview, which is scheduled to be broadcast in Sacramento at 4 p.m. on Channel 10 (KXTV). Stuart Zakim, a spokesman for the publishers, American Media Inc., could not be reached for comment. At an event Monday in Stockton, where Schwarzenegger sought to highlight money in his state budget for school bus safety, a reporter asked the Republican governor: "Did they (the magazines) cover up an affair?" "Not that I know of," Schwarzenegger said in a transcript released by his press office. "You have to ask them. I have nothing to do with that." A report about Goyette's alleged relationship with Schwarzenegger isn't new. But the old story sparked fresh controversy when the Los Angeles Times reported last week that just as Schwarzenegger was declaring his candidacy in 2003, AMI paid her $20,000 to promise she wouldn't talk about him with anyone other than AMI. The Times reported that a friend of Goyette's was paid $1,000 for the same reason. At the same time, Schwarzenegger had agreed to become editor and consultant to two AMI bodybuilding magazines, Fitness and Muscle & Flex. Schwarzenegger canceled that contract last month after news reports said AMI would pay him at least $5 million over five years, prompting critics to claim that as governor he had a conflict of interest. AMI and Schwarzenegger also had an implicit agreement as part of their business deal, according to Laurence Leamer, author of a new Schwarzenegger biography called "Fantastic." The National Enquirer had written about Goyette and other alleged Schwarzenegger sexual transgressions in the past. But when Schwarzenegger became editor of the company's fitness magazines, he is quoted as telling Leamer it was natural for things to change. "There was no discussion about the National Enquirer," Schwarzenegger is quoted as saying. "I think it's common sense. Do you want to work with someone who you are attacking? You don't have to say anything." Goyette talks about that during her "Inside Edition" interview. Jim Kelly, a spokesman for the show, said she was not paid to appear. "At that time," she said of Schwarzenegger, "he was in negotiations with them to become the editor for a couple of their magazines ... and I think - this is all speculation - I feel that they were wanting to give him some security like, 'If you become the editor of our magazines, we'll make sure we never print anything about you again.' " In his book, Leamer describes Goyette as "a fearlessly erotic, voluptuous being with an insatiable sexual appetite. ..." She told the author she came up with the word "outercourse" to describe her encounters with Schwarzenegger, often when the two met at the annual Arnold Classic fitness expo in Ohio. She told Leamer that the encounters occurred over a period of time - from 1989 to 1996. "It's like foreplay," she's quoted in Leamer's book. "It was whatever we wanted it to be. It wasn't the same all the time. Most of the time, it was just massages, really, and I think any stressed-out man in his position - maybe his wife wasn't there to relieve him - we'll get Gigi. Call Gigi. I was his avenue of relaxation." On "Inside Edition," Goyette characterizes the behavior differently, according to the show's press release, describing it as "hugging, kissing and petting." "I do that with all my friends," she said. "And I've done it in front of Maria. Hello, how are you? Kiss both cheeks, good to see you, Maria. How's the kids? What's going on? Harmless, completely harmless." 1 8 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 5 Arnold’s misleading mistress
Radar Online Gigi Goyette, the woman at the center of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hush-money sex scandal, appears to be trying to re-enter his good graces. Unfortunately for her, a little-known documentary and her loose-lipped friends are making her backpedaling a bit difficult. Following reports that she was paid $20,000 by American Media for exclusive rights to her story two days before Arnold announced his candidacy in 2003, Goyette appeared on Inside Edition Tuesday night to declare, “Not only am I not his mistress, I didn’t come forward. Nobody has ever come to me to get my exclusive story.” [Stukje uit Goyettes contract met AMI]
Goyette, a 46-year-old single mother, went on to charge that 90 percent of the 2001 National Enquirer front-page story that outed her as Schwarzenegger’s undercover lover was false. But if that’s true, she has no one but herself to blame. According to a source close to Goyette, the perennially cash-strapped aspiring actress sold the story to the Enquirer herself for about $25,000 after she had a falling out with Schwarzenegger over a car he had given her. (Apparently, when she went to register the “previously owned” vehicle, she learned the previous owner was one of his other mistresses.) Goyette also told a drastically different story about her relationship with her onetime bodybuilding mentor in a 2004 BBC documentary called Made in Britain: the Real Arnold Schwarzenegger. Describing her relationship with Arnold, Goyette tells the interviewer, “it could be oral sex, it could be whatever…. It could be standing on my head and getting head.” She adds that, “any stressed-out man in [Arnold’s] position—and his wife wasn’t there to relieve him—you know, will get Gigi. You know, ‘She’s the helmet master, get her over here.’ You know, ‘Call Gigi.’” We hear the illicit couple’s main rendezvous was Schwarzenegger’s annual Arnold Fitness Weekend in Columbus, Ohio. “Every year, Gigi would do the show—and also do Arnold,” our source laughed. “Gigi told me that one year Maria went to the event and after she went to bed, Arnold sneaked into Gigi’s room.” A spokesperson in Schwarzenegger’s press office declined to comment on Goyette’s sudden change of heart, and her lawyer said that Goyette was traveling and could not immediately be reached for comment. But Goyette may have dropped a clue in her Inside Edition interview: “[Since my name became public in 2001] I lost my job and I have never gotten one other part on any other television show, or in any movies. It’s almost like I’ve been banned, or blacklisted in Hollywood. Who did it? I don’t know, but all I know is that I cannot get another part on anything to save my life.” |
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
