MARIA SHRIVER Biography - People in the News and Media

 
 

Biography » people in the news and media » maria shriver

MARIA SHRIVER

Name: Maria Shriver                                                                   
Born: 6 November 1955 Chicago, Illinois                                               
                                                                                     
Maria Owings Shriver (born November 6, 1955) is an                                   
American journalist from the Kennedy Family and is First Lady of California. Her     
husband is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.                                           
                                                                                     
Shriver was born in Chicago, Illinois. A Roman Catholic of Irish descent, she         
was the second child and only daughter of the politician Sargent Shriver and         
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of the former President John F. Kennedy. She       
attended Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington,       
DC. Maria also attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda,           
Maryland being in the class of 1973. Shriver received a B.A. degree in American       
Studies from Georgetown University in June 1977.                                     
                                                                                     
In her book Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World,       
Shriver says that she became passionate about broadcast journalism after being       
sent to the back of the campaign plane with the press corps when volunteering         
for her father's vice presidential race, calling these orders "the best thing         
that ever happened to me." After her journalism career began with KYW-TV in           
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored the CBS Morning News with Forrest         
Sawyer from 1985 until 1987, co-anchored Sunday Today and weekend editions of         
NBC Nightly News from 1987 until 1989, and was a contributing anchor on Dateline     
NBC from 1989 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     
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 for Dateline NBC.                             
                                                                                     
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."                 
                                                                                     
Shriver has played a minor role in Be Prepared, an episode of the television         
series That's So Raven as herself promoting a "Preparedness Plan". She also           
appeared as herself in the film Last Action Hero. On March 23, 2007, Shriver         
returned to television news as substitute host of panel-discussion talk show         
Larry King Live on CNN. Shriver moderated discussion of breast cancer and its         
effects with cancer specialist Dr. Susan Love, musician Sheryl Crow, and other       
guests.                                                                               
                                                                                     
Shriver announced that she will not return to news media after the excessive         
media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.