Arnold Schwarzenegger
Biography
From Austria to Hyannis Port
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born on July 30, 1947, in Thal, a village near Graz, Austria. He emigrated to the United States in 1968 after winning the Mr. Universe title and went on to win the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding championship seven times before becoming one of the highest-grossing film stars of the 1980s and 1990s with Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator series, Predator and True Lies.
He met Maria Shriver at the Robert F. Kennedy Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament in 1977. They married on April 26, 1986, at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in a ceremony that united Hollywood's biggest action star with America's most famous political family. They had four children: Katherine (1989), Christina (1991), Patrick (1993) and Christopher (1997).
Governor of California
A lifelong Republican in a family of Democrats, Schwarzenegger won the 2003 California recall election and served two terms as the state's 38th Governor, through January 2011. Maria Shriver left her NBC News career to serve as First Lady of California and was credited with broadening his appeal to independents and Democrats.
In May 2011, shortly after he left office, the couple announced their separation following the disclosure that he had fathered a son with a member of the household staff more than a decade earlier. Their divorce was finalized in 2021. He has continued to act and to campaign on climate policy and electoral reform, and remains close to his four children with Shriver.
Family Context
Arnold Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver. See Maria Shriver's children →
Related Kennedys
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Arnold Schwarzenegger connected to the Kennedy family?
Arnold Schwarzenegger was married to Maria Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver and a niece of President Kennedy, from 1986 until their divorce was finalized in 2021. Their four children are great-grandchildren of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.
When did Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver divorce?
They separated in May 2011 and the divorce was finalized in December 2021, after a decade in which the case sat largely dormant.