In the space of just a few years, mother-of-four Maria Shriver endured the loss of her husband, her parents, and profession.
In a brand-new, tell-all memoir, however, the 69-year-old former journalist has reflected on the darkest time of her life, touching specifically on her shock divorce from former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for the very first time.
For those in need of a reminder, Shriver was first introduced to the Austrian bodybuilder in 1977 through mutual friend television journalist Tom Brokaw at a charity event.
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At the time, Schwarzenegger was just starting off his acting career, while Shriver was working as a CBS broadcaster.
In 1986, the couple were married in a traditional Catholic ceremony in Hyannis, Massachusetts, before they welcomed four children together - including The White Lotus actor Patrick, 31, and daughter Katherine, 35.
In May 2011, however, the pair, who are also parents to daughter Christina, 33, and son Christopher, 27, blindsided fans by announcing their separation after 25 years together.
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Shriver moved out of their Brentwood, California home before tweeting a message of gratitude to her followers.
"Thank you all for the kindness, support and compassion," she wrote at the time. "I am humbled by the love. Thank you."
Only this week, however, have viewers learned of Shriver's devastating experience from her own words.
An excerpt from her incoming biography, I Am Maria - which will be released to the public on 1 April - has since been obtained by press.
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In the self-written work, the star also recalled the heartache of losing her parents around the same time as seeing her marriage break down.
Shriver's mother, Eunice, died in 2009, aged 88, after suffering from years of strokes.
Her father, Sargent, died in 2011 - four months before Shriver and Schwarzenegger separated - after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He was 98 years old at the time.
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2011 was also the year that her career as the First Lady of California ended.
Starting with her mother's passing, Shriver writes in a segment of her new book (obtained by PEOPLE Magazine): "Then a year and a half later, all hell seemed to break loose.
"My First Lady job came to an end. My father died.
"And then came another devastating, life-altering blow: my twenty-five-year-long marriage blew up. It broke my heart, it broke my spirit, it broke what was left of me."
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Shriver goes on to explain: "Without my marriage, my parents, a job—the dam of my lifelong capital-D Denial just blew apart.
"Now, much has been written about the end of my marriage, and frankly I don’t feel like I need or want to discuss it here, or anywhere.
"That said, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge the grace, valor, and courage my children exhibited. Everything about their world and the sanctity of their home got uprooted in an instant."
Much discussion about Shriver's marriage came from the revelation that Schwarzenegger had secretly fathered a son with one of the couple's longtime household staff members, Mildred 'Patty' Baena, in 1997.
The shocking news was broken by The Terminator actor just over a week after his split from Shriver was revealed.
"I was consumed with grief and wracked with confusion, anger, fear, sadness, and anxiety," she writes recently of her divorce, which was finalised in 2021. "I was unsure now of who I was, where I belonged. Honestly, it was brutal, and I was terrified.
"As I sat on my hotel room floor in the dark, alone with tears streaming down my face, I thought to myself: Maria, this doesn’t have to be the end of you.
"I won’t bore and exhaust you with the details of my self-pity party. I’m also going to spare you a litany of all my trips to various therapists, healers, shamans, and psychics."
Shriver went on to claim the predicament spurred her to venture to a cloistered convent, the Mother Superior of which encouraged her to leave her marriage.
Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships, US News
Rhianna Benson