Raised a Roman Catholic she was the second child and only daughter of the politician Sargent Shriver and his wife Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and a niece of the assassinated American President John F. Kennedy. Shriver received a B.A. degree in American Studies from Georgetown University. She was introduced to her husband Arnold Schwarzenegger by NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw. They married on April 26, 1986, and have four children:

Katherine Eunice (born December 13, 1989) Christina Maria Aurelia (born July 23, 1991) Patrick Arnold (born September 18, 1993) Christopher Sargent Shriver (born September 27, 1997) Her children attend school in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.