Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, were a power couple. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian immigrant who became seven-time Mr. Olympia, a Hollywood superstar, and then the Governor of California. Maria is a successful journalist whose career spans decades and is part of the Kennedy family. However, Maria’s proximity to politics wasn’t something she enjoyed.

So Arnold’s decision to step into politics in 2003 surprised Maria. While her experience with politics wasn’t a pleasant one, Maria never imagined it would cast a shadow on her career.

Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor, and Maria lost her job

In a 2008 interview with Oprah, Shriver opened up about how Arnold’s decision changed the course of her journalism career. After Maria expressed she initially wanted nothing to do with Arnie’s campaign, Oprah asked, “What made you change your mind?”. “I realized that if I said no, I’d be stopping my husband from achieving his dream.“, said Shriver. Maria told Oprah that she ultimately supported Arnie and found herself in “an intense, tumultuous campaign.”

Shriver also revealed that she was happy for Arnold after the big win. Maria added, “I just wanted to go back to my job.”; However, Maria was in for a rude surprise. “NBC decided they were uncomfortable keeping me.”, said the former first lady of California.

Maria Shriver is a prolific journalist. By the time Arnold became governor, Shriver’s career was already over two decades old. Shriver started reporting in 1977 and, by 2003, had worked in KYW, CBS, and NBC. So when her career came to a sudden, grinding halt, it was devastating.

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However, Shriver supported her husband and stayed away from journalism until their separation in 2011. Two years after her separation from Schwarzenegger, Maria returned to the career she’d left behind almost a decade ago. She joined NBC in 2013 as a special anchor.

When CBS fired Maria

During the same conversation with Oprah, Maria also revealed that CBS had fired her once. The former first lady of California had joined CBS Morning News as one of two female anchors. She took the job three weeks after getting married to Arnold. While Maria loved the job, out of three networks, CBS’s ratings were the lowest and, they decided to fire her.

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Arnold’s ex-wife sacrificed a lot for his political career. Maria supported Arnold even though she wanted to stay away from politics. She lost her job at NBC after Arnold became governor but stood by her husband and only returned to journalism after their separation.