If his comments before the Republican Convention drove his wife away for two weeks, his recent quips about his sex life (or absence thereof) will definitely offer him more time alone.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently joked that his sex life suffered after he endorsed President Bush at the Republican National Convention.

'There was no sex for 14 days. Everything comes with side effects,' he said.

Although she dons the hat of First Lady to California’s Republican Governor, Maria Shriver is a member of a historically staunch Democratic family. She is the niece of slain US President John F. Kennedy and of his brother Senator Robert Kennedy.

The moderate Republican Schwarzenegger was one of the star attractions at the party's convention in New York in late August.

He surprised some observers by offering his unqualified support to Bush's re-election bid in his speech, despite varying social policy values between the two men.

Schwarzenegger’s comments about his marriage came during Monday’s Panetta Institute for Public Policy lecture series headed by former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta. The crowd of 1,000-plus people was greatly amused by former actor’s comments.