Maria Shriver Biography Quotes 5 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Maria Owings Shriver was born on November 6, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, into two of America's most public-spirited families. Her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded Special Olympics and was a sister of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Senator Edward Ted Kennedy. Her father, Sargent Shriver, helped create and lead the Peace Corps and was a major architect of the War on Poverty before serving as the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1972. Maria grew up steeped in the values of public service and civic responsibility, a legacy reinforced by her grandparents, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was raised primarily in Maryland, part of a close-knit family that included her brothers Bobby Shriver, Timothy Shriver, Mark Shriver, and Anthony Shriver, each of whom pursued public and nonprofit leadership in their own right.

Education and Early Journalism
Shriver attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland, where she developed an early interest in writing and public affairs. She graduated from Georgetown University in 1977 with a degree in American studies. Soon after, she began her career in journalism, working behind the scenes and then on camera. Early stints in local television news led to work at CBS News, where she reported on national stories and gained experience that would define a wide-ranging career in broadcast journalism.

National Journalism Career
By the mid-1980s, Shriver was a recognizable national correspondent and anchor. She co-anchored programs at CBS before joining NBC News, where she became a correspondent for NBC Nightly News and a contributor to the Today show. At NBC she also reported for Dateline NBC, conducting interviews with political leaders, cultural figures, and newsmakers, and covering issues that bridged politics, social change, and family life. Known for a calm, empathetic interviewing style, she shaped segments that amplified voices often at the margins, including caregivers and low-wage workers. Shriver stepped away from NBC in 2003 when her husband entered public office, returning a decade later as a special anchor to cover the rapidly changing roles of women, caregiving, and economic insecurity in the United States.

Marriage, Children, and the Kennedy-Schwarzenegger Circle
In 1986, Maria Shriver married Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born bodybuilder and movie star who would later serve as the 38th governor of California. Together they had four children, Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher, who grew up with dual exposure to public service and popular culture. Through Katherine's marriage to actor Chris Pratt, Shriver's family expanded into another sphere of public life. Even after Shriver and Schwarzenegger separated in 2011 and later finalized their divorce, they worked to co-parent their children and maintain strong family ties across the Kennedy and Schwarzenegger circles, which also included cousins and siblings active in civic, philanthropic, and creative endeavors.

First Lady of California
As California's First Lady from 2003 to 2011, Shriver reimagined what a non-elected public role could accomplish. She broadened the Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women into The Women's Conference, a large-scale gathering that convened leaders from business, government, media, and philanthropy to promote mentorship, economic empowerment, and community service. She created the Minerva Awards to honor extraordinary women who devoted themselves to improving their communities. Shriver also launched WE Connect to help working families access resources such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and low-cost financial services. Together with Governor Schwarzenegger, she helped establish the California Hall of Fame at the California Museum, celebrating the contributions of notable Californians from science, the arts, sports, and public service. These initiatives reflected the values she inherited from Eunice and Sargent Shriver while adapting them to twenty-first-century needs.

Advocacy, The Shriver Report, and Women's Economic Security
Beyond her formal role in Sacramento, Shriver developed a sustained platform to study and publicize the evolving realities of women's lives. The Shriver Report, produced in collaboration with leading policy organizations and media partners, examined the economic and social shifts transforming American families. A widely discussed edition focused on women living on the brink of poverty, connecting data, first-person narratives, and policy ideas. Shriver's reporting and convenings helped mainstream discussions about paid leave, childcare, wage inequality, and the essential yet undervalued work of caregiving, issues that resonated across partisan lines and drew contributions from figures in politics, academia, philanthropy, and entertainment.

Alzheimer's Leadership and Women's Brain Health
After her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Shriver became one of the country's most prominent advocates on brain health, caregiving, and the unique impact of Alzheimer's on women as both patients and caregivers. She served as executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, a multi-part documentary series that aired on HBO and received critical acclaim, including Emmy recognition. She launched the Women's Alzheimer's Movement to fund research on sex-based differences in the disease, advance prevention strategies, and support caregivers. The initiative partnered with leading medical institutions and ultimately joined forces with the Cleveland Clinic to accelerate research and public education. These efforts honored Sargent Shriver's legacy while extending Eunice Kennedy Shriver's ethic of building inclusive, supportive communities through practical action.

Author, Interviewer, and Media Entrepreneur
Maria Shriver is the author of best-selling books that blend personal reflection with practical guidance, including Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out into the Real World and Just Who Will You Be?. She wrote the children's book What's Happening to Grandpa? to help families talk with young people about dementia. Her later books, such as I've Been Thinking..., address purpose, resilience, faith, and the search for meaning during times of change. Through Shriver Media and the Sunday Paper, she curates essays, interviews, and conversations under the banner Architects of Change, elevating ideas and people seeking to move humanity forward. She has also supported mission-driven ventures related to brain health and nutrition in collaboration with family members, including her son Patrick.

Continuity of the Special Olympics and Kennedy Traditions
Shriver's advocacy sits alongside and often intersects with the work of her siblings. Timothy Shriver has led Special Olympics as chairman, continuing Eunice Kennedy Shriver's vision of inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities. Mark Shriver has focused on early childhood development and community service; Anthony Shriver founded Best Buddies to foster friendships and employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; Bobby Shriver has combined public service and social entrepreneurship. Their collective efforts draw on the Kennedy family's tradition while evolving it to meet contemporary challenges.

Faith, Service, and Public Voice
A lifelong Catholic, Shriver has often spoken about faith as a source of strength and reflection rather than partisanship. Her on-air work, keynote addresses, and essays have emphasized empathy, civil dialogue, and the power of service. Whether interviewing national leaders on NBC, moderating intergenerational conversations at women's conferences, or spotlighting caregivers and community organizers, she has used her platform to connect personal stories with public solutions.

Legacy and Influence
Maria Shriver's life traces a distinctive arc across journalism, public service, and advocacy. She leveraged a rigorous reporting career into programs that mobilized volunteers, lifted up women's leadership, and helped families access concrete resources. She transformed personal experience with Alzheimer's into a national movement for women's brain health. The people around her, Eunice and Sargent Shriver, the Kennedy uncles who shaped midcentury public life, her brothers and cousins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and their children Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher, form the constellation within which her work was imagined and realized. Through decades of storytelling and institution-building, she has remained focused on dignity, opportunity, and the idea that change begins when individual lives are seen, heard, and supported.

Our collection contains 5 quotes who is written by Maria, under the main topics: Equality - Honesty & Integrity - Sarcastic - Family - Romantic.

Other people realated to Maria: Rose Kennedy (Author)