Maria Shriver

American news journalist and noted family, the second of five kids and only daughter of Sergeant and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She touched the political trail at 16, working on a Kennedy campaign before going to Georgetown University, graduating 1977. She went immediately into journalistic broadcast training.

She was a national correspondent by 1981, a roving reporter for the syndicated "PM Magazine" TV series. In 1983, she moved to CBS News, then to NBC as a Nightly News Anchor.

One month after graduating from school, she met Arnold Schwarznegger and was instantly attracted. After eight years together they married in Hyannis, MA on 26 April 1986: two daughters were born, Katherine on 13 December 1989 and Christina on 23 July 1991, and a son, Patrick, on 25 September 1993. On 1 February 1997 she was admitted to the hospital under the threat of miscarriage. Their son Christopher was born on 27 September 1997.

An attractive brunette, she is pencil thin. She and Arnie live in Pacific Palisades, CA where she does much of her work at home. A devoted parent, she takes the kids with her whenever possible.

On 3 February 2004, she quit her job as anchor of Dateline NBC, a news show, in order to attend to her duties as First Lady of California, following her husband's election to Governor. Her mother died on 11 August 2009. Her dad died on 18 January 2011. In addition to her recent losses, she and her husband announced their separation after 25 years of marriage on 10 May 2011. Two months later on 17 July her son Christopher suffered a serious accident while boogie boarding at Malibu Beach. He sustained broken bones and a collapsed lung and was hospitalized in serious condition.