Maria Shriver was glimpsed beaming as she arrived at the 79th birthday festivities of her ex-husband Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles this week.
Shriver, 70, tied the knot with Schwarzenegger in 1986 and welcomed four children with him – Katherine, 36, Christina, 35, Patrick, 32, and Christopher, 28.
Their marriage collapsed in 2011 when the family was engulfed in scandal by news Schwarzenegger had fathered a child with their housekeeper Mildred ‘Patty’ Baena.
Patty and Schwarzenegger’s son Joseph Baena, 28, has grown into the spitting image of his father and followed in his footsteps to become a bodybuilder.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger and Shriver were able to emerge from the cyclone of controversy with an intact, amicable co-parenting relationship.
When she was spotted making her way to Schwarzenegger’s birthday dinner Thursday, Shriver projected an image of serene geniality with a massive grin.
The Daily Mail has contacted Shriver and Schwarzenegger’s representatives for comment.
Maria Shriver was glimpsed beaming at the 79th birthday festivities of her ex-husband Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles this week
Her former husband, meanwhile, appeared in buoyant spirits as he mingled with his daughters and his daughter-in-law Abby Champion, Patrick’s wife
Shriver, 70, exchanged vows with Schwarzenegger in 1986 and welcomed four children with him – Katherine, 36, Christina, 35, Patrick, 32, and Christopher, 28
Her still impressively lithe physique was draped in a summery canary yellow dress, accessorized with a bulging handbag and a set of cat-eye shades.
Her former husband, meanwhile, appeared in buoyant spirits as he mingled with his daughters and daughter-in-law Abby Champion, Patrick’s wife.
Shriver first rose to fame as a political ‘nepo baby’ – her maternal uncle was John F Kennedy and her father Sargent Shriver was a longstanding Democratic Party bigwig who spearheaded Lyndon B Johnson’s ‘war on poverty’ program.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger, born in a village near Graz, rose to fame as a champion bodybuilder in his native country, earning himself the nickname the ‘Austrian Oak.’
He was in the midst of a gradual transition from bodybuilding to acting when, in 1977, he and Shriver first struck up their romance – one that initially overlapped with his relationship to Beverly Hills hairdresser Sue Moray.
Moray claimed her dalliance with Schwarzenegger began with ‘lust at first sight’ on Venice Beach and blossomed into an open arrangement wherein they were ‘committed’ while he was in Los Angeles but ‘free’ to stray whenever he left town, with the exception that she was banned from dating other bodybuilders.
‘He’d see a beautiful woman on the street or wherever he was and he’d go right up to her and say: “Do you wanna f*** me?” His English wasn’t all that great but he had that phrase down pat,’ Moray alleged in the Times of London.
Then, however, he became involved with Shriver, who in the nine years they dated saw off not only Moray but also Schwarzenegger’s Red Sonja co-star Brigitte Nielsen, with whom he had what Nielsen described in her memoir as an ‘outrageous affair.’
Shriver and Schwarzenegger tied the knot in April 1986 in Hyannis, Massachusetts, a stone’s throw from the Kennedy compound
They forged what for decades appeared to be an indestructible image as a rare example of an enduring and happy showbiz marriage; pictured in 2003
Patty and Schwarzenegger’s son Joseph , 28, has grown into the spitting image of his father and followed in his footsteps to become a bodybuilder; Joseph pictured with his mother
Shriver reflected later: ‘Everyone assumed that I was supposed to marry someone like a John Kerry, some preppy that had gone to Harvard or Yale. I didn’t want to marry those boys – I did not like them. I had been around them my whole life.’
Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, ‘wanted to be a star,’ said Shriver. ‘He wanted to be famous! I thought it was great. Everyone I knew was so serious. It was: “You can’t do that! You have to be successful.” Arnold was like an explosion of fresh air.’
By the time he exchanged vows with Shriver, Schwarzenegger had become a reigning Hollywood beefcake in films like Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator.
Shriver and Schwarzenegger tied the knot in April 1986 in Hyannis, Massachusetts, a stone’s throw from the Kennedy compound, at a ceremony attended by such relations as John F Kennedy Jr and his mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
They forged what for decades appeared to be an indestructible image as a rare example of an enduring and happy showbiz marriage, an edifice they were able to maintain throughout Schwarzenegger’s tenure as Governor of California.
But in 2011, one day after he left office, the world awoke to the explosive news that Schwarzenegger was the father of his maid’s 13-year-old son Joseph.
Until that year, even Joseph was unaware of his true parentage, believing himself to be the son of Patty’s ex-husband Rogelio Baena.
As the scandal gathered steam, Patty at first kept a low profile and then broke cover for a photo-shoot with her son published in Hello! magazine.
Schwarzenegger (third from left) is pictured with (from left) Christopher, Christina, Patrick, Katherine and the latter’s husbnad Chris Pratt
He has also emerged as a doting father to Joseph as his son grows into his doppelganger and embarks on his own bodybuilding career
She shared in the accompanying interview that Joseph’s reaction to the information that he was in fact Schwarzenegger’s son was: ‘Cool!’
Patty, who worked for Schwarzenegger for 20 years, insisted she was initially unaware her boss was Joseph’s father but explained that their physical resemblance to one another ‘became more apparent’ over the years.
‘I knew Arnold was the father, and maybe as Joseph got older and began to look like him, he wondered. But he never said anything to me,’ she said.
According to Patty, Shriver also began harboring misgivings that eventually became so strong she confronted her housekeeper ‘point blank’ about Joseph’s paternity.
When Patty confessed, Shriver ‘cried with me and told me to get off my knees,’ she claimed. ‘We held each other and I told her it wasn’t Arnie’s fault, that it takes two.’
She characterized Schwarzenegger as a ‘good man’ who was ‘suffering too,’ adding: ‘He loves Maria. I hope with time they work things out.’
The year after Shriver left him, Schwarzenegger took up with Heather Milligan, a blonde physical therapist 27 years his junior whom he has remained with to this day; pictured 2023
Weeks after the interview ran, on July 1, 2011, Shriver filed for a divorce from Schwarzenegger that was finalized a decade later.
The year after Shriver left him, Schwarzenegger took up with Heather Milligan, a blonde physical therapist 27 years his junior whom he has remained with to this day.
They met after he had shoulder surgery and availed himself of Milligan’s professional services on a recommendation from Sylvester Stallone – who, incidentally, married Brigitte Nielsen in the 1980s shortly after Schwarzenegger’s affair with her.
Schwarzenegger has also emerged as a doting father to Joseph as his son grows into his doppelganger and embarks on his own bodybuilding career.
‘A lot of guys struggle with trying to make their dad proud or trying to get out of their dad’s shadow,’ Joseph told People. ‘But as long as you’re doing what you want to do, then that all comes. Of course, maybe those guys don’t have such nice dads.’
However, Shriver’s children appear to have kept their distance from their half-brother, with a source alleging in 2023 that they ‘don’t love Joe’ and ‘take’ their feelings about their father’s affair ‘out’ on the son it produced, via Page Six.
