Arnold Schwarzenegger On His Split From Wife Maria Shriver: "We're Taking It One Day At A Time"

Newly separated Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted an award in Los Angeles at the 63rd Israel Independence Day Celebration, and while he had the audience's attention, the former California governor took a moment to address his split from wife of 25 years, Maria Shriver.

Schwarzenegger, 63, said the following:

"I want to take a moment and thank our many friends and family for the tremendous amount of support and love that you have given us in the last 24 hours. I just spoke to Maria an hour ago before I came her. We both were saying the same thing – we're extremely blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people, by so many wonderful friends."

He and Shriver, 55, have four kids together ... Katherine, 21, Christina, 19, Patrick, 17, and Christopher, 13. Arnold went on to say:

"We both love each other very much. We're very fortunate to have four extraordinary children. And we're taking it one day at a time. The bottom line is we want to thank all the people for their great, great support."

Just yesterday, we snapped the Terminator star giving an awkward kiss to a few lady friends. See the video ... after the jump.