Background and career
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".
Shriver was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 6, 1955, the second child and only daughter of politician Sargent Shriver and activist Eunice Kennedy. She is a niece of the late U.S. president John F. Kennedy, U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. senator Ted Kennedy, and six other siblings. A Roman Catholic, she is of mostly Irish and German descent. Shriver spent her middle school years living in Paris and returned permanently from France to Bethesda, Maryland, in 1970, where she attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart high school and graduated in 1973, later attending Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, for two years, then transferring for a Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., graduating in June 1977.
Shriver began her journalism career with KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored The CBS Morning News with Forrest Sawyer from August 1985 until August 1986, co-anchored NBC News's Sunday Today from 1987 until 1990. Shriver also served as Saturday anchor 1989 & Sunday 1990 and contributing anchor 1996-1999 of NBC Nightly News. She was a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC from 1992 until 2004. In August 2003, Shriver took an unpaid leave of absence from NBC News when her husband became a candidate in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election. Following her husband's November 17, 2003, inauguration as the 38th Governor of California, she became the First Lady of California. She then returned to reporting, making two more appearances for Dateline NBC. She left NBC News in February 2004. She appeared as herself in the film Last Action Hero (1993). She also played a minor role as herself in "Be Prepared", a 2006 episode of the television series That's So Raven promoting a "Preparedness Plan". Shriver announced that she would not return to the news media after the excessive media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Shriver subsequently returned to the news media.
In 2003, Shriver's father, Sargent Shriver, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and she became an advocate and fundraiser for Alzheimer's patient care and biomedical research. Shriver was the executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, a four-part documentary series that premiered on HBO in May 2009 and later earned two Emmy Awards. The series took a close look at cutting-edge research being done in the country's leading Alzheimer's laboratories. The documentary also examined the effects of this disease on patients and families. One of the Emmy Award-winning films, Grandpa, Do you Know Who I Am? is based on Shriver's best-selling children's book dealing with Alzheimer's. Shriver is an advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. She is a member of the International Board of Special Olympics, the organization her mother founded in 1968. She is also on the advisory board of Best Buddies, a one-to-one friendship and jobs program for people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, Shriver serves as Chair of the Audi Best Buddies Challenge: Hearst Castle, a fundraising event for programs supporting people with intellectual disabilities. As First Lady, Shriver supported the hiring of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the capitol and in various state offices through her WE Include program. In February 2008, Shriver started an ice cream company called Lovin' Scoopful with her brother, Tim Shriver. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from Lovin' Scoopful benefits the Special Olympics. In 2008, Shriver executive-produced American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Shriver. The documentary originally aired on PBS on January 21, 2008. The film chronicled the life, accomplishments and vision of her father, Sargent Shriver. Shriver also serves on the advisory board of the Sargent Shriver Peace Institute, which raises public awareness of her father's legacy as a peacebuilder and offers educational and training programs grounded in the principles of public service that motivate the many programs he created, including the Peace Corps, Job Corps, Head Start, and Legal Services for the Poor. In 2016, Shriver published Color Your Mind, a coloring book for people with Alzheimer's. In 2018, she published I've Been Thinking...: Reflections Prayers and Meditations for a Meaningful Life, which became an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Shriver released a companion journal, I've Been Thinking...The Journal: Reflections, Prayers and Inspirations for Your Meaningful Life, in January 2019. Shriver and her daughter, Christina Schwarzenegger, were co-executive producers of Take Your Pills (2018), an hour-long documentary on psychostimulant medications.
In October 2009, Shriver launched "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything", a national study and comprehensive report conducted in partnership with the Center for American Progress, USC's Annenberg Center on Communication, Leadership and Policy, and the Rockefeller Foundation. The Shriver Report revealed that American women, for the first time, make up half of the United States workforce and studied how that fact is impacting major institutions like family, business, government and faith organizations. The report was released in 2013 in partnership with TIME and NBC News. According to The New York Times, the report "was modeled on a study undertaken almost 50 years ago during the administration of John F. Kennedy, Shriver's uncle, and led by Eleanor Roosevelt." The report features, among other things, writings by public figures including Suze Orman, Beyoncé, Tammy Duckworth, Billie Jean King, Heidi Hartmann, Susan J. Douglas, Stephanie Coontz, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, John Podesta, and Oprah Winfrey. In 2010 The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer's was published. It is a study by Maria Shriver and the Alzheimer's Association. It features, among other things, writings by public figures including Barbra Streisand, Laura Bush, Patti Davis, Soleil Moon Frye, Rosalynn Carter, Susan Collins, Kathleen Sebelius, Barbara Mikulski, and Joe Biden. The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink was published in 2014. The book is about women and their children in poverty. It is by Maria Shriver, with editors Olivia Morgan, and Karen Skelton, and features, among other things, writings by public figures including Carol Gilligan, Beyoncé, Joan Chittister, Ai-Jen Poo, Eva Longoria, Stephanie Coontz, Jennifer Garner, Kathleen Sebelius, Jada Pinkett Smith, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Tory Burch, Sheryl Sandberg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Barbara Ehrenreich, LeBron James, and Hillary Clinton.
After Arnold took office, Shriver took on several key initiatives as First Lady, which included raising awareness of the contributions of women to the state, working on practical solutions to end cycles of poverty, and encouraging all Californians to engage in acts of service to their communities. Once Schwarzenegger was elected, Shriver had to cut back on her news reporting to avoid conflicts of interest.
