Maria Shriver

Maria Shriver
Shriver in 2018
35th First Lady of California
In role
November 17, 2003  January 3, 2011
GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger
Preceded bySharon Davis
Succeeded byAnne Gust Brown
Personal details
Born
Maria Owings Shriver

(1955-11-06) November 6, 1955
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyIndependent (2011–present)
Other political
affiliations
Democratic (until 2011)
Spouse
(m. 1986; div. 2021)
Children4, including Katherine and Patrick Schwarzenegger
Parents
RelativesShriver family
Kennedy family
Gustav Schwarzenegger (father-in-law)
Chris Pratt (son-in-law)
Residence(s)Brentwood, California, U.S.
EducationGeorgetown University (BA)
Profession
  • Journalist
  • author
Signature

Maria Owings Shriver (/ˈʃrvər/ SHRY-vər; born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist, author, a member of the prominent Shriver and Kennedy families, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to former governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, from whom she filed for divorce in 2011; which was finalized in 2021.

Shriver began her journalism career at CBS station KYW-TV and briefly anchored the CBS Morning News before joining NBC News in 1986. After anchoring weekend editions of the Today show and the NBC Nightly News, she became a correspondent for Dateline NBC, also covering politics. After leaving NBC News in 2004 to focus on her role as First Lady of California, she returned in 2013 as a special anchor. For her reporting at NBC, Shriver received a Peabody Award in 1998 and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics.

As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences award for developing a "television show with a conscience."