from Star magazine, as respected as the New York Whore Times
 
But if you're Arnold Schwarzenegger and you've been a bad boy, then a couple of cars,
diamonds, seaweed bodywraps and a fancy vacation may help mend the wife's broken heart.

The musclebound action hero has been lavishing expensive gifts on wife Maria Shriver
over the past few weeks, as he begs her to forgive his indiscretions, say sources.

"Right now, he can't do enough for Maria," said a business source close to the couple.

Can't really blame Maria for feeling agitated. Her 15-year marriage has been rocked over the past months with a story of her husband's infidelity and rumors of his womanizing behavior, which included a seven-year affair with former child actress Gigi Goyette, though Schwarzenegger vehemently denies the allegations. The stories may even have stalled Schwarzenegger's plans to run for governor of California.

No doubt Arnie had to pull a few strings to buy Maria a brand-spanking-new Mercedes SUV ML 55, the fastest SUV on the market. Price tag: $66,000. For normal folks, there's a seven-month waiting list, but the Terminator was able to get it right away. He also spent 62 Gs to offer her a Lexus convertible SC 430. Here, too, he had to ask nicely. There'd be a 15-month waiting list for you and me, if we had that kind of dough.

Then there was the diamond bracelet that Maria admired in a catalog. Within days, the sparklers were on her wrist.

But all the goodies apparently didn't fully de-stress the Kennedy clan member, a star news anchor for NBC. Maria was also treated to full-service spa pampering at the couple's Los Angeles home. Schwarzenegger, 53, went as far as hiring experts to give 45-year-old Maria seaweed bodywraps, shiatsu massages, facials, scalp treatments, manicures and pedicures -- right on the couple's property.

Some of my L.A. spies who have spotted the Schwarzeneggers have also noticed how attentive to his spouse Arnie seems. At the World Stunt Awards in Santa Monica May 20, he was seen lovingly protecting Maria when a Bengal tiger slowly padded by the couple in the hallway.

And then there's a fancy Bahamas vacation that amorous Arnie's been planning. One of my sources in the Bahamas said the Austria-born actor is considering two weeks with Maria and their four children, ages 3 to 11, on the island resort of Musha Cay. The trip to the private island is going to set Schwarzenegger back $650,000.

No word yet on whether the gifts will work. But, at press time, the two are still a couple.