Hollywood star and the frontrunner in the race for California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted on Thursday that he had 'behaved badly' with women and offered an apology.

The Los Angeles Times had carried a story quoting six women who said that Schwarzenegger groped them on movie sets and in other settings over the last three decades. One of the six women included British television host Anna Richardson.

"When I am governor I want to prove to the women that I will be a champion for the women, a champion of the women," Schwarzenegger said at a rally in San Diego. "Now let's go from the dirty politics to the future of California."

"Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I offended people," he continued.

"Those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize because that's not what I'm trying to do," he said.

Agencies