Tag Archive for: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announce separation

Two weeks after their 25th wedding anniversary and four months after Arnold Schwarzenegger end his term as the Governator, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that they are separating.

In their statement, they characterized their separation as amicable and did not mention whether they were filing for divorce. They noted that this was a time of personal and professional transition and arrived at the decision to separate together. Many commentators believe that the split between Schwarzenegger and Shriver represents a growing trend of long-term marriages ending in divorce in the baby boom generation.

Many baby boomers with adult children and children in their late teenage years are beginning to explore divorce as an option. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 66 percent of baby boomers reported being less than enthusiastic about staying in an unhappy marriage.

Shriver and Schwarzenegger have four children ages 14, 18, 20, and 21. They indicated that they plan to continue parenting their children together.

Important changes in a person’s life can contribute to stress on a marriage and it has indeed been a time of transition for Schwarzenegger and Shriver. Maria Shriver has had to deal with personal loss over the last year. Her mother died in August 2010 and her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy died just weeks later. In January, her father died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Now that Schwarzenegger has left the Governor’s office after nearly eight years, he has returned to his acting career and has reportedly signed on to appear in another sequel to the “Terminator” move franchise.

Sources: CNN, “Baby boomer breakups and the search for a perfect union,” Amy Wilson, 5/11/2011

CNN, “Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver split,” Alan Duke, 5/10/2011

ABC, “Maria Shriver Bore Grief Over Family Deaths, Alleged Affairs,” 5/10/2011

Maria Shriver officially files her divorce petition

When the news initially broke that Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, it was not clear what was going to be next for the couple. They announced their separation just weeks after the 25th anniversary. The couple had accumulated substantial assets over those 25 years, with Schwarzenegger as a lucrative box office draw and Shriver working as an acclaimed journalist over many of those years. The couple also has four children, two of them under 18 years of age, together. If they were going to file for divorce, the issues of marital property division, child support, child custody, and alimony would need to be resolved.

Recently, we learned more about the fate of their marriage. Citing “irreconcilable differences,” Maria Shriver officially filed for divorce from Arnold Schwarzenegger in California last Friday. Like Wisconsin, California is a community property state. This means that both spouses are legally entitled to half of the property earned during the marriage.

The divorce filing came six weeks after it became publicly known that Schwarzenegger had an extra-marital affair and had fathered a child with the family’s housekeeper. The couple separated after Shriver learned of the affair.

According to the divorce petition, Shriver is seeking to share physical and legal custody of the couple’s two minor children with Schwarzenegger. The petition also states that the property accumulated during their marriage will be divided at a later time.

Given the tumultuous circumstances surrounding their separation and divorce, one could easily foresee that this divorce would be a hotly contested one. However, the fact that Shriver wants to share child custody with Schwarzenegger indicates that this divorce may be on its way to being settled by the parties.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, “Maria Shriver seeks divorce from Schwarzenegger,” Carla Marinucci, 7/2/2011