The eldest daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver says she fled to London after her parents separated, in part to escape a storm of unwanted attention.

Katherine Schwarzenegger tells Harper's Bazaar magazine (http://bit.ly/nQeBrc ) she wanted to "go away and realize that it's not as big a deal in other places."

Shriver and the former Republican governor are in the midst of a divorce, after Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed in May he fathered an out-of-wedlock child with a former housekeeper.

Their 21-year-old daughter never mentions her now-teenaged half-brother in the interview, while discussing what she calls "definitely a difficult time."

She says she tries "not to care about what other people ... think," but adds she's been consoled by Twitter messages from supporters.

She tells the magazine, "I've always been way closer to my mom."