Maria Shriver Net Worth

What Is Maria Shriver's Net Worth?

Maria Shriver is an American journalist, author, producer, entrepreneur, and former First Lady of California who has a net worth of $200 million.

Maria Shriver has spent more than four decades working across television journalism, publishing, documentary production, women's advocacy, and philanthropy. She began her broadcasting career in the late 1970s and went on to become a co-anchor of "CBS Morning News," "Sunday Today," and the weekend edition of "NBC Nightly News," as well as a longtime correspondent for "Dateline NBC." Her reporting and producing have earned multiple Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.

Shriver served as First Lady of California during the governorship of her former husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, from 2003 until January 2011. She used the position to expand The Women's Conference, promote programs for working families, and advocate for Alzheimer's research. She later founded the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, Shriver Media, and the publishing imprint The Open Field. In 2021, she and her son Patrick Schwarzenegger co-founded the brain-health nutrition company MOSH. Her 2025 memoir and poetry collection "I Am Maria" became a #1 New York Times bestseller.

Shriver is also a member of the Kennedy family through her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, making President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy her maternal uncles.

(Photo by Pool BENAINOUS/CATARINA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Early Life

Maria Owings Shriver was born on November 6, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., was a politician and diplomat who served as the founding director of the Peace Corps, U.S. ambassador to France, and the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1972. Her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics and was one of the nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Maria grew up in a prominent political family with four brothers. Her maternal first cousins include Caroline Kennedy, the late John F. Kennedy Jr., Kerry Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Shriver attended schools in Maryland before enrolling at Manhattanville College. She transferred to Georgetown University, graduating in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in American Studies.

Her interest in journalism crystallized while working on her father's 1972 vice-presidential campaign. After being sent to the back of the campaign plane with the reporters covering the race, Shriver became fascinated with the press and decided to pursue broadcasting.

Journalism Career

Shriver began her professional career as a news producer and writer at KYW-TV in Philadelphia before working at WJZ-TV in Baltimore. She eventually moved in front of the camera and joined CBS, working as a correspondent before becoming co-anchor of "CBS Morning News" in the mid-1980s.

She moved to NBC News in 1986 and became co-anchor of "Sunday Today." Shriver also anchored weekend editions of "NBC Nightly News" and became a correspondent and contributing anchor for "Dateline NBC."

Her reporting frequently focused on families, poverty, social policy, and women's issues. She won an Emmy for her coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and a Peabody Award for a "Dateline NBC" report examining welfare reform.

Shriver took a leave from NBC during Schwarzenegger's 2003 campaign for governor and later left her regular network position because her role as California's First Lady presented a potential conflict of interest.

She formally returned to NBC News in 2013 and has continued working as a special anchor, reporting on subjects including women's health, aging, family life, and Alzheimer's disease.

First Lady of California

When Schwarzenegger became governor in 2003, Shriver became California's First Lady. Rather than limiting herself to ceremonial responsibilities, she developed programs focused on women, working families, volunteerism, poverty, intellectual disabilities, and California history.

One of her signature projects was The Women's Conference. Under Shriver's leadership, it grew into a massive annual event that attracted tens of thousands of attendees and prominent speakers from politics, business, entertainment, media, and philanthropy.

The conference also became a fundraising vehicle. Millions of dollars were directed toward programs providing women with financial literacy training, microloans, domestic-violence services, scholarships, and healthcare.

In 2004, Shriver created the Minerva Awards to recognize women who had made significant contributions to society. She was also instrumental in the redevelopment of what became the California Museum and developed the WE Connect program to help lower-income families gain access to tax credits, employment resources, foreclosure assistance, and other financial services.

Alzheimer's Advocacy

Alzheimer's disease became a major focus of Shriver's work after her father was diagnosed in 2003. She subsequently used her journalism and public platform to draw attention to the effects of the disease on both patients and caregivers.

Shriver was an executive producer of HBO's 2009 documentary series "The Alzheimer's Project." Two components of the project, "The Memory Loss Tapes" and "Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? with Maria Shriver," earned her Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2010, she partnered with the Alzheimer's Association on "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Takes on Alzheimer's," which highlighted the disproportionate impact of Alzheimer's on women.

That work evolved into the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, commonly known as WAM. In 2020, WAM and Cleveland Clinic opened an Alzheimer's prevention center specifically focused on women at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. In 2022, the organization formally joined Cleveland Clinic as WAM at Cleveland Clinic.

WAM has funded millions of dollars in sex-based Alzheimer's research across universities and medical institutions. Shriver has also served as a strategic partner to Cleveland Clinic on women's health and Alzheimer's research.

Books and Publishing

Shriver has written numerous books dealing with life transitions, grief, faith, family, and personal development. Her books have included "Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out into the Real World," "What's Heaven?," "What's Happening to Grandpa?," "Just Who Will You Be?," and "I've Been Thinking."

In 2020, Shriver partnered with Penguin Life to establish a publishing imprint called The Open Field. The imprint publishes books focused on personal development, meaning, wellness, and social impact.

In April 2025, Shriver published "I Am Maria: My Reflections and Poems on Heartbreak, Healing, and Finding Your Way Home." The deeply personal collection blended memoir with poetry and explored her family, marriage, divorce, grief, identity, and the process of rebuilding her life. The book reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Shriver also founded The Sunday Paper, a digital publication focused on inspirational stories and conversations, and Shriver Media, which develops documentaries, films, books, and other media projects.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Film and Documentary Producing

Shriver has produced several projects addressing social and health issues. In addition to "The Alzheimer's Project," she executive produced the 2014 HBO documentary "Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert," which followed a low-wage working mother struggling financially.

She also served as an executive producer of the 2014 drama "Still Alice," starring Julianne Moore as a professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Moore won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Shriver's producing work has generally paralleled her advocacy, particularly around Alzheimer's disease, economic insecurity, women, and families.

MOSH

In 2021, Shriver and Patrick Schwarzenegger launched MOSH, a nutrition and wellness company centered on brain health. The name stands for Maria Owings Shriver Health.

The mother-and-son company initially sold protein bars directly to consumers before expanding into retail. MOSH donates a portion of its proceeds to Alzheimer's and women's brain-health research.

By 2023, the company had generated more than $10 million in direct-to-consumer sales and raised $3 million to finance its expansion into physical retail. In 2026, MOSH raised a further $13 million Series A investment led by Main Street Advisors.

MOSH subsequently expanded into more than 2,000 retail locations and launched nationally at Target. The company has also helped fund research grants through the Women's Alzheimer's Movement.

Kennedy Family Fortune

Shriver's personal finances also include wealth inherited through the Kennedy family. Her maternal grandfather, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., created an enormous family fortune through investments in securities, real estate, entertainment, and other businesses during the first half of the 20th century.

Rather than being passed down as a single pool of cash, much of the Kennedy fortune was structured through trusts, partnerships, real estate interests, and investment entities that benefited subsequent generations.

Financial disclosures released during Schwarzenegger's time in public office showed that Shriver held interests in Kennedy family investment vehicles and real estate-related assets, including investments connected to Vornado Realty Trust.

The precise current value of Shriver's inherited trusts and family investment interests is private.

Marriage to Arnold Schwarzenegger

Shriver met Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1977 after they were introduced at a charity tennis tournament organized by the Kennedy family. They married on April 26, 1986.

They had four children: Katherine Schwarzenegger, Christina Schwarzenegger, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Christopher Schwarzenegger. Katherine married actor Chris Pratt in 2019.

In May 2011, Shriver and Schwarzenegger announced their separation. Schwarzenegger subsequently acknowledged that he had fathered a son, Joseph Baena, with Mildred Baena, a longtime member of the family's household staff. The child had been born in 1997 while Schwarzenegger and Shriver were married.

Shriver filed for divorce in July 2011. Although the couple had separated a decade earlier, their divorce was not finalized until December 28, 2021.

Shriver and Schwarzenegger Divorce Settlement

Shriver and Schwarzenegger did not have a prenuptial agreement. Their marriage lasted approximately 25 years before their separation, during which time Schwarzenegger accumulated substantial wealth from acting, investments, real estate, and business ventures.

The former couple handled the financial settlement privately. Court records confirmed that a private judge approved their property settlement shortly before the divorce became final, but the division of assets was not publicly disclosed.

Consequently, widely repeated claims that Shriver received a specific $100 million or $200 million divorce payout have never been confirmed. Their final settlement provided that neither party owed the other ongoing spousal support.

Real Estate

Shriver and Schwarzenegger assembled a substantial Los Angeles real estate portfolio during their marriage. They lived for many years on a multi-property compound in Pacific Palisades before acquiring a large Brentwood estate.

In 2002, the couple purchased a roughly 11,000-square-foot home on approximately six acres in a guard-gated Brentwood community. Contemporary reporting placed the purchase price close to the property's $11.9 million asking price. The home featured five bedrooms, extensive ocean views, a swimming pool, and a tennis court.

Following their 2011 separation, Shriver purchased her own roughly 11,000-square-foot Brentwood mansion for approximately $10 million. The eight-bedroom property includes a gym, theater, wine room, and three-car garage and was located close enough to the former family home to make it easy for their children to move between their parents.

In June 2022, Shriver expanded her Brentwood holdings by paying $12.2 million for the property immediately next door.

Personal Life

Shriver has maintained close relationships with Schwarzenegger and their children following the end of their marriage, and the former couple have continued to come together for family occasions.

She has also become a grandmother through Katherine and Chris Pratt's family.

In addition to Alzheimer's advocacy, Shriver has spent much of her career supporting people with intellectual disabilities, continuing a cause closely associated with her mother and the Special Olympics. Her work has also increasingly focused on women's health, healthy aging, and the importance of research that examines differences between men's and women's health.

Her combination of journalism, public service, publishing, business, and advocacy has allowed Shriver to build an identity distinct from both the Kennedy political dynasty into which she was born and the Schwarzenegger family she joined through marriage.

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