Maria Owings Shriver was born on November 6,1955 and is an American journalist, author, a member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement.
48 Facts About Maria Shriver
2.
Maria Shriver was married to former governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, from whom she filed for divorce in 2011 and which was finalized in 2021.
3.
Maria Shriver was born in Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on November 6,1955, the second child of politician Sargent Maria Shriver and activist Eunice Kennedy.
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Maria Shriver is a niece of the late US president John F Kennedy, US attorney general and US senator Robert F Kennedy, US senator Ted Kennedy, and six other siblings.
5.
Maria Shriver permanently returned 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 into a Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, graduating in June 1977.
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Maria Shriver is a fourth cousin of tennis player Pam Maria Shriver.
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Maria Shriver was a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC from 1992 until 2004.
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Maria Shriver then returned to reporting, making two more appearances for Dateline NBC.
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On February 3,2004, Maria Shriver asked to be "relieved of [her] duties at NBC News," citing concerns the network had over the conflict of interest between her role as a journalist and her status as the First Lady of California and her increasing role as an advocate of her husband's administration.
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Maria Shriver appeared as herself in the film Last Action Hero.
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Maria Shriver played a minor role as herself in "Be Prepared", a 2006 episode of the television series That's So Raven promoting a "Preparedness Plan".
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On March 23,2007, Maria Shriver returned to television news as substitute host of panel-discussion talk show Larry King Live on CNN with musician Sheryl Crow and other guests.
13.
Maria Shriver announced that she would not return to the news media after the excessive media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
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Maria 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.
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In 2016, Maria Shriver published the coloring book Color Your Mind, a coloring book for people with Alzheimer's.
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Maria Shriver has been a lifelong advocate for people with intellectual disabilities.
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Maria Shriver is a member of the International Board of Special Olympics, the organization her mother founded in 1968.
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Maria Shriver is on the advisory board of Best Buddies, a one-to-one friendship and jobs program for people with intellectual disabilities.
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In February 2008, Maria Shriver launched an ice cream company called Lovin' Scoopful with her brother, Tim Maria Shriver.
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In 2008, Maria Shriver executive-produced American Idealist: The Story of Sargent Maria Shriver.
21.
Maria Shriver serves on the advisory board of the Sargent Maria 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.
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In October 2009, Maria Shriver launched "The Maria 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.
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The Maria 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.
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Once Schwarzenegger was elected, Maria Shriver had to cut back on her news reporting to avoid conflicts of interest.
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In 2004, Maria Shriver created The Minerva Awards to honor and reward "remarkable California women" who have changed their communities, their state, their country and the world with their courage, wisdom and strength.
26.
In 2004, Maria Shriver was in attendance at both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, attending the first to watch her uncle Ted Kennedy speak, and the latter to watch her husband speak.
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In 2005, Maria Shriver launched her WE Connect Program, which connects working families in need with money-saving programs and support services.
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In March 2010, Maria Shriver held a three-day Community Resources Fair in Fresno and Los Angeles through WE Connect.
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Maria Shriver was instrumental in inspiring Governor Schwarzenegger to establish the nation's first state cabinet-level Department of Service and Volunteering.
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Maria Shriver pioneered and promoted a statewide disaster preparedness program called WE Prepare that encourages and educates Californians to be ready for an emergency or natural disaster.
31.
In 2008, Maria Shriver launched her WE Invest Program, which provides training, mentoring, support networks, microloans and other resources to help women launch or grow their businesses.
32.
In June 2009, she expanded WE Invest nationally through a partnership with Kiva, creating the first-ever online peer-to-peer microlending program in the US Maria Shriver is credited with coming up with the idea to bring Kiva's international micro-lending model to the United States.
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Maria Shriver is Co-Chair of The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts and she has been credited with revitalizing the state museum during her tenure.
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Maria Shriver created the California Hall of Fame in 2006 at the Museum to honor legendary Californians such as Cesar Chavez, Clint Eastwood, Walt Disney, Amelia Earhart, Ronald Reagan, John Steinbeck, Rita Moreno, Earl Warren, Julia Morgan, Leland Stanford, Dorothea Lange and others.
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In November 2008, Maria Shriver launched the California Legacy Trails, a first-of-its-kind web-based multimedia learning tool designed to help students learn California history.
36.
On February 3,2008, Maria Shriver endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
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Later that year, as in 2004, Maria Shriver was in attendance at the Democratic National Convention when her uncle Ted Kennedy spoke.
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In May 2009, Maria Shriver planted the first edible garden at a state capitol in what once was a flower bed.
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Maria Shriver teamed up with Alice Waters on the project.
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Maria Shriver has been an advocate for edible gardens and chairs the California School Garden Network that has doubled the number of gardens in state schools from 3,000 to 6,000 since 2004.
41.
On October 18,2013, Maria Shriver returned to the anchor desk on Today, filling-in for Savannah Guthrie for the first time since 1998 as co-anchor with Matt Lauer.
42.
Maria Shriver married Schwarzenegger on April 26,1986, in Hyannis, Massachusetts, at St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church.
43.
On May 9,2011, Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced their separation after 25 years of marriage, and Maria Shriver moved out of the couple's Brentwood mansion.
44.
Maria Shriver confessed to Shriver only after she confronted him with the information, having earlier confirmed what she had suspected about the child in a confrontation with her former employee.
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Maria Shriver has additionally won Peabody Awards for her television journalism.
46.
In 2009, Maria Shriver was honored with the Shinnyo-en Foundation's 2009 Pathfinders to Peace Award, which is bestowed annually to a person who exemplifies the ideals of compassion, harmony, and peace.
47.
Maria Shriver is a woman of quiet strength who role-models kindness and charity, and has used her celebrity to help create peace in the world.
48.
The Maria Shriver rose contains starchy-white blooms and a powerful citrus fragrance.