Maria Shriver is an American journalist, author, member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and founder of the non-profit organization The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement.
Bio/Wiki
Age-67 years
Height-1.66 m
Weight-69 kg
Born-6 November 1955
Full Name-Maria Owings Shriver
Birthplace-Chicago, Illinois, United States
Profession-Author, Journalist, Voice Actor, Newsreader, Screenwriter, Producer
Spouse-Arnold Schwarzenegger (m. 1986–2021)
Nationality-American
Family
Shriver was born on November 6, 1955, at Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, the second child of politician Sargent Shriver and activist Eunice Kennedy. She is the niece of the late US President John F. Kennedy, US Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, US Senator Ted Kennedy and six other siblings. He is Catholic and of mainly Irish and German descent.
Husband
In 1977, Tom Brokaw introduced Maria to Austrian bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a charity tennis tournament held at her mother’s home. She married Schwarzenegger on April 26, 1986, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
On May 9, 2011, Schwarzenegger and Shriver announced their separation after 25 years of marriage, with Shriver moving out of the couple’s Brentwood mansion In a message to her Twitter followers on May 13, 2011, Shriver said, “Thank you all for your kindness, support and compassion. I am humbled by the love. Thank you.”
She refused to speak further, saying: “As a mother, I take care of the children. I am asking for compassion, respect and privacy as my children, and I try to rebuild our lives and heal.” Shriver filed for divorce on July 1, 2011, citing “irreconcilable differences”. The divorce was finalized in Dec. 2021.
In a 2018 interview with the Commonwealth Club of California, Shriver revealed that she changed her registration from Democrat to Independent, arguing that there are good and bad people in both parties.
Children
They have four children: two sons and two daughters, including Katherine and Patrick.
Education
Maria spent her high school years in Paris, except for a brief period when the Shriver family temporarily moved to Chicago in the summer of 1968 after Eunice Kennedy Shriver worked with the Paralympics.
Shriver returned permanently from France to Bethesda, Maryland in 1970, where she attended and graduated from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in 1973, later Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. For two years, after which he transferred to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for a BA in American Studies, graduating in June 1977. Shriver is the fourth cousin of tennis player Pam Shriver. Shriver is also Caroline Kennedy’s cousin.
Career
Media career and advocacy
Shriver says in her book Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Went Out into The Real World (2000) that she became passionate about radio journalism after being sent behind a campaign plane while volunteering with the press corps. Father in the U.S. Vice presidential election in 1972, calling the arrangements “the best thing that ever happened to me.” After her journalism career began at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored CBS Morning News from August 1985 to August 1986 and NBC News’ Sunday Today from 1987 to 1990 with Forrest Sawyer.
After her husband was inaugurated as the 38th Governor of California on November 17, 2003, she became the First Lady of California. She then returned to reporting and made two more appearances on Dateline NBC.
On February 3, 2004, Shriver asked to be relieved of her position at NBC News, citing the network’s concerns about a conflict of interest in her reporting role and the status and parenting of the First Lady of California. In the role of spokesperson for her husband’s administration.
In 2003, Shriver’s father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and became an advocate and fundraiser for Alzheimer’s treatment and biomedical research. Shriver was an executive producer on The Alzheimer’s Project, a four-part documentary series that premiered on HBO in May 2009.
In 2016, Shriver published Color Your Mind, a coloring book for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Shriver is a lifelong advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. She is a member of the International Board of Special Olympics, an organization founded by his mother in 1968.
The Shriver Report
In October 2009, Shriver published a national survey and comprehensive report, “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything”, conducted in collaboration with the Center for American Progress, USC Annenberg Communications, and with the Center for Policy and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Shriver Report revealed that, for the first time, American women make up half of the American workforce, and investigated how this fact affects important institutions such as the family, business, government, and religious organizations.
In 2010, the Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s was published. This is a study by Maria Shriver and the Alzheimer’s Association. It includes writings by public figures such as Barbra Streisand, Laura Bush, Patti Davis, Soleil Moon Frye, Rosalynn Carter, Susan Collins, Kathleen Sibelius, Barbara Mikulski, and Joe Biden.
In 2014, Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink; it concerns women living in poverty and their children. Written by Maria Shriver, edited by Olivia Morgan and Karen Skelton, it has contributions from celebrities such as Carol Gilligan, Beyoncé, Joan Chittister, Ai-Jen Poo, Eva Longoria, Stephanie Coontz, Jennifer Garner and Kathleen. Sebelius, Jada Pinkett Smith, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Tory Burch, Sheryl Sandberg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Barbara Ehrenreich, LeBron James, and Hillary Clinton.
First Lady of California
Shriver assumed leadership of the California Governor’s and First Lady’s Conference on Women when Schwarzenegger took office in 2003. Under her leadership, the Women’s Conference grew into the country’s leading women’s forum, and in 2010 it attracted more than 30,000 attendees and 150 worldwide opinion leaders for three whole days. The event is held annually at the Long Beach Convention Center in October. Oprah Winfrey, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor, US Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, Barbara Walters, Warren Buffett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Bono, Billie Jean King spoke in a conference, Gloria Steinem and the Dalai Lama.
In 2004, Shriver created the Minerva Awards to honor and reward “remarkable California women” who have transformed their communities, state, country and world through their courage, wisdom and strength. The Minerva Awards are named after Minerva, the Roman goddess Minerva who adorns the California state seal and “symbolizes the dual nature of women as warriors and peacemakers”. The Minerva Awards are presented annually during a special ceremony at the Women’s Conference in Long Beach. Laureates also receive a stipend to continue their work. Past recipients of the Minerva Awards include former First Lady Betty Ford, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King, astronaut Sally Ride and the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Shriver’s mother. The achievements of Minerva Award winners are featured in a permanent exhibit at the California Museum of History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento and have become part of the official California State Archives.
On February 3, 2008, Shriver endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The confirmation was given at a UCLA rally attended by Caroline Kennedy (Shriver’s cousin), Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, and the wife of Obama, Michelle Obama. Governor Schwarzenegger endorsed Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination a few days earlier, on January 31, 2008. Later that year, as in 2004, Shriver attended the Democratic National Convention when her uncle Ted Kennedy spoke.
In May 2009, Shriver planted the state capital’s first edible garden in a former flower bed. She collaborated with Alice Waters in the project. Food grown in the organic garden is distributed to local food banks. Shriver has been an advocate for edible gardens and runs the California School Garden Network, which has doubled the number of school gardens in the state from 3,000 to 6,000 since 2004.
Achievement/Awards
As executive producer of The Alzheimer’s Project, Shriver won two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Award for developing television with a conscience. She also won Peabody Awards for her television journalism.
In 2009, Shriver was honored with the 2009 Pathfinders to Peace Award of the Shinnyo-en Foundation, given annually to an individual who exemplifies the ideals of compassion, harmony, and peace.
Saint John’s Medical Center has an infant school named after Shriver.
The hybrid rose was named after Shriver in October 2004. The Maria Shriver rose has starchy white flowers and a strong lemon scent.
In 2017, the Alzheimer’s Association presented Shriver with its first Lifetime Achievement Award.
Net Worth 2023
Maria Shriver’s Net Worth Growth Year by Year
Net Worth in 2023 – $210 Million
Net Worth in 2022 – $189 Million
Net Worth in 2021 – $169 Million
Net Worth in 2020 – $149 Million
Net Worth in 2019 – $134 Million