Most people hear Maria Shriver and think about her ex-husband, iconic 80s action legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the journalist, 69, has an awe-worthy career and has been a fierce advocate during events like the California wildfires.
The divorce finalization took over a decade, with the separation announced in 2011. If you’re familiar with rich people’s breakups, you’ll know part of that delay was due to property settlements and other financial small print.
Maria Shriver’s impressive net worth
Shriver’s net worth is around $200 million according to Essentially Sports and Celebrity Net Worth. Net worth is the value of assets an individual owns minus any liabilities they owe, so it’s not just liquid cash.
That includes any assets like cars etc. that can be sold, cash, properties, and investment portfolios. Part of her net worth comes from the divorce settlement with Schwarzenegger, but Shriver also comes from generational wealth.
Her career
She began her career in journalism at CBS before joining NBC in 1986. There she co-anchored the station’s Emmy-winning 1988 Summer Olympics coverage. Shriver earned a prestigious Peabody award in 1998, anchored weekend editions of the Today show in the early 2000s, and was a Dateline correspondent.
She left media in 2004 to concentrate on her role as the First Lady of California, a position she entered due to Schwarzenegger becoming governor of California. Following that, she moved into executive producing projects like The Alzheimer’s Project, for which she won two Emmys.
Family history
Circling back to that old money, the Chicago-born reporter hails from the prominent Shriver name, a political family with Maryland origins. Many Shrivers have run for office, beginning with David Shriver in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1799 and most recently Mark Kennedy Shriver in the same role from 1995 to 2003. The Shriver homestead, which housed six generations of family members in Maryland, is a historic landmark near Westminster.
The family is linked to the Kennedys through a 1953 marriage between Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s sister. Suffice it to say, Shriver had her own money before she married a movie star.
What is Maria Shriver doing now?
Shriver still makes TV appearances, joining Today‘s infectiously likable Hoda Kotb on occasion, appearing on podcasts, and often lending her voice to advocacy efforts. She co-founded the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at the Cleveland Clinic, and MOSH, a supplement-focused company that partly funds the aforementioned Alzheimer’s non-profit organization.
In January 2025 she was one of many voices in the media industry to highlight devastating wildfires in her community. The Palisades fire started on Jan. 7 and has since ripped through over 21,595 acres, according to California’s fire department. Tens of thousands of locals have been displaced, with the death toll currently at 7 people.
Shriver has urged people to support firefighters as they combat the flames. She wrote on Instagram, “The firefighters have and are doing their best, but this fire is massive and out of control, and now there are multiple fires burning across Los Angeles. We in this city will put our arms around one another. We will rise, but right now these fires continue to burn.”
Old habits die hard, as Shriver felt moved to do some boots-on-the-ground reporting, chatting to first responders, taking videos, and informing her international followers about the tragic loss of property and life. Once a reporter, always a reporter.
Published: Jan 11, 2025 12:08 pm