Maria Shriver

Profile Overview

Maria Owings Shriver ( SHRY-vər; born November 6, 1955) is an American writer and journalist. Shriver is a member of the Shriver family and Kennedy family, a former First Lady of California, and the founder of the non-profit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to actor and former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, with whom she had four children, before separating in 2011 and divorcing in 2021.
Shriver began her journalism career at 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".