People have their problems, but when it's international news, it takes another level of patience and compassion to get through it. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a love-child with a family housekeeper, and Maria Shriver, a celebrity in her own right, is quickly lawyering up. What is not being talked about is the fact that this happens often with families who are not in the international spotlight. What can this celebrity fiasco teach us?

First we have to acknowledge all of the players. Schwarzenegger, a bodybuilder-turned-movie-star-turned-politician, has apparently had extra-marital affairs with his housekeeper, resulting in what is now a teenage child. This is fodder for a Lifetime original movie, but there is something to be learned from all this: Don’t act like a normal person if you are a celebrity, and DEFINITELY do not act like celebrities if you are normal people.

Normal people have cheated. They have had children outside of wedlock. They have let down their “legitimate” children because of an adulterous scandal. But they deal with it in “normal people” ways. What happens to the Schwarzeneggars?

The Schwarzeneggars must be the objects of public ridicule. Maria Shriver must now be known as the cuckolded victim instead of the accomplished journalist and “Kennedy” that she is. Arnold must now take movie roles in which a celebrity bodybuilder/politician/adulterer will be believable. Their four kids must take a bigger hit from paparazzi than they already have. Their friends in their lives will be even more suspect than they are now. (“Are you my friend because you like me, or because my last name is Schwarzeneggar . . . or because I’m a huge part of the biggest scandal of the year?) They will be questioned about this for a very long time. Their lives were already not their own. Now it may be ten times harder for each to present himself or herself as an individual to the world.

And then there is the housekeeper’s family. This woman’s husband has to deal with the fact that his 13 year-old son isn’t his, but the progeny of the illustrious and celebrated Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Think about it. Remember wishing that your parents were a lot cooler than they actually were? Well, this kid got his wish. How is the guy who raised him for thirteen years supposed to feel?

So, what is the lesson to be learned? It’s this: adultery affects more than just the adulterer, the adulteress, and whatever significant others play the role of victim. There are kids, there are friends of the kids, there are friends of the adulterers (some who may have known but have kept their mouths shut for years), the people around Schwarzenegger and Shriver who had to keep things picture-perfect throughout his political career. That moment of weakness between Arnold and his housekeeper has become a lifetime of pain and sorrow. Unless, of course, they all cash in on this for books, movies, interviews, and what have you.

Unfortunately, the non-celebrities who find themselves in such situations do not have the opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons. To them I say, “Just don’t do it.”

GOTC Asks YOU:

If someone you knew were having an affair, would you clam up or spill the beans? If you were being cheated on, wouldn't you want to know?

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Would you date someone who had previously dated one of your friends?

Yes! I'm perfectly happy to date my friend's exes. They're exes for a reason.

No! It's too incestuous. I don't feel comfortable dating a friend's ex.

Maybe Yes: I haven't had the opportunity, but I don't see a problem with it.

Maybe No: I haven't done it, but I don't think I would.