Maria Shriver Opens Up on ‘Brutal’ Divorce from Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘It Broke What Was Left of Me’

In her memoir I Am Maria, the former First Lady of California reflects on the heartbreak, betrayal, and emotional collapse that followed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelity.

March 25, 2025: Maria Shriver has broken her silence on the emotional aftermath of her divorce from Arnold Schwarzenegger, calling it “brutal” and revealing how it left her shattered in every way. In her deeply personal new memoir, I Am Maria, the 69-year-old journalist and former First Lady of California shares the toll the split took on her spirit, identity, and family.

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“It broke my heart, it broke my spirit, it broke what was left of me,” Shriver writes in the book, according to People. The couple’s 25-year marriage came to an end in 2011 after Schwarzenegger confessed to fathering a child with the family’s housekeeper, Mildred Baena — a secret he had kept for over a decade. Their son, Joseph Baena, was born in 1997.

Reflecting on that time, Shriver says, “Without my marriage, my parents, a job — the dam of my lifelong capital-D Denial just blew apart.”

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Though she avoids reliving the entire public saga, she takes a moment in the book to honour her children — Katherine (35), Christina (33), Patrick (31), and Christopher (27) — for their strength and dignity. “They showed grace, valor, and courage,” she writes, despite having their world “uprooted in an instant.”

Shriver admits to grappling with overwhelming grief, confusion, fear, and anxiety. “I was consumed,” she confesses. “I was unsure now of who I was, where I belonged.”

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In one heartbreaking moment, she recounts sitting alone on the floor of her hotel room, crying in the dark. “Maria, this doesn’t have to be the end of you,” she told herself.

While Shriver does not dwell on the scandal, she offers a rare, raw glimpse into the emotional fallout — not just from the betrayal, but from the loss of a life and identity built over decades. I Am Maria is not just a memoir of heartbreak, but also one of survival and personal rediscovery.

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Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger divorce, I Am Maria book, celebrity memoirs, celebrity divorce, Schwarzenegger affair, Mildred Baena, Joseph Baena, Maria Shriver children, emotional healing, infidelity, Hollywood relationships