Maria Shriver
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Maria Owings Shriver (born February 6, 1955) is an American journalist for NBC and the First Lady of California.
Biography
Maria Shriver was born in Chicago, Illinois.Raised a Roman Catholic she was the second child and only daughter of the politician Sargent Shriver and his wife Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and a niece of the assassinated American President John F. Kennedy. Shriver received a B.A. degree in American Studies from Georgetown University. In 1977, Tom Brokaw introduced Maria to Austrian bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a charity tennis tournament being held at Eunice Kennedy's home. Impressed by his passion for life, she married Schwarzenegger April 26, 1986. They have four children:
- Katherine Eunice (born December 13, 1989)
- Christina Maria Aurelia (born July 23, 1991)
- Patrick Arnold (born September 18, 1993)
- Christopher Sargent Shriver (born September 27, 1997)
Career
She was a TV news reporter for NBC's Dateline NBC from 1989 until 2004. In August of 2003, Shriver took an unpaid leave of absence from NBC News when her husband became a candidate in the 2003 California recall.Upon her husband's inauguration as the 38th Governor of California, she became the First Lady of California on November 17, 2003. She then returned to reporting, making two more appearances as an anchor for Dateline NBC. Her broadcast journalism career started with KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On February 3, 2004, Shriver told NBC she wished to be "relieved of [her] duties at NBC News," citing 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. NBC News president Neal Shapiro did not refer to Shriver's decision as a resignation, however, and issued a statement calling Shriver's departure "an extended leave of absence."
Political Spouse
During her husband's tenure as the Governor of California, Shriver was initially tentative in her role as the Governor's wife. Some speculated that she felt that her husband would not attempt to gain the Governor's seat in the recall election that drove Gray Davis from office. When Arnold announced his candidacy abruptly on the Jay Leno show, she played the part of the loyal political spouse. Since Governor Schwarzenegger took office, Maria has visibly supported her husband and has taken on several key initiatives as first lady-- 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.As her husband proposed a series of California ballot initiatives in November 2005, she decided to forego any public support of her husband's proposals. The roots of the Kennedy clan and her father Sargent Shriver appeared to hold sway. Her political and personal reservations proved wise, as all of Schwarzenegger's initiatives were rejected by voters.
It is unclear if her public role, as well as Schwarzenegger's agenda, will evolve in the wake of ballot initiatives and the upcoming gubernatorial elections.
Prior to her work at NBC, Shriver had co-anchored the CBS Morning News and contributed frequently to Dateline NBC. She has won Peabody and Emmy awards and is the author of five best-selling books: What's Heaven, Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World, What's Wrong with Timmy?, What's Happening to Grandpa? and And One More Thing Before You Go.
Guest Starred
She has since played a minor role in the children's television series That's So Raven as herself promoting a "Preparedness Plan".References
- ["Maria Shriver: A Who2 Profile"]. Retrieved Nov. 8, 2005.
External links
- [America's Kennedys] - An American Dynasty
- [Official site of the First Lady of California]
- [A brief biography]
- [Maria Shriver's campaign contributions]
- [Maria Shriver] at NNDB
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