“Wanted Boys Who Were Empathetic”: Years After Separating, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Ex-Wife Maria Shriver Opens on Their Parenting Style

After rising to fame, bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger created his own beautiful family of four with author and now ex-wife, Maria Shriver. Sadly, the couple separated after 25 years of marriage. However, the star couple made sure their kids’ upbringing was an aggregation of core values. They envisioned their family as being open and compassionate. Shriver and her son, Patrick Schwarzenegger featured on The Squeeze podcast hosted by Hollywood star Taylor Lautner and his wife, a mental health advocate. 

In a recent Instagram post, the official handle of the podcast shared a brief snippet of the interview. It gave glimpses from their candid chat encircling family, self-care, holistic growth of the mind and body, and more. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver raised their kids right

Per the Instagram update today, the 67-year-old personality enlightened the fans with her and Arnold’s priorities as parents. Despite their opulent background, they aspired to nurture the kids into self-reliant and “empathetic” individuals, especially the boys. “Patrick’s dad and I raised the kids in a really private way, and I always really encourage them to talk,” she revealed. 

Iterating her vision, she claimed, “I really wanted boys who were empathetic and who felt that they could talk about their feelings.” Moreover, even Patrick chimed in with his insights. “Just trying to understand what someone else is going through,” he said. It is evident that the power couple triumphed in their parental feats. 

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Besides that, the Former First Lady of California spoke highly of her eldest son saying, “I think people will always ‘oh, you got it because your name is this’. But he’s really worked his way up, and I have great respect for that.” Another instance that proved that the Shriver-Schwarzenegger guidance was on point was when their eldest child, Katherine, took up an odd job at 15.

Katherine Schwarzenegger was encouraged by her mother to work at 15

Despite Schwarzenegger’s $450 million fortune, he and his wife never speculated their kids to be complacent with their elite background. Speaking in an interview, Katherine once shed light on this aspect. She said her parents were “big on us, you know, working into our own thing.”

Following in her mother’s footsteps, she is now a NY Times Best-Selling Author. However, back in her days, she worked at a retail store as her first job during her teens. “I had my first job in a retail store when I was 15.” Besides, she explained the rationality behind choosing the job stating “..because I frequented to it so much, my mom was like ‘Just work there’,” the 33-year-old disclosed. 

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What do you think of the Schwarzenegger kids? Tell us in the comments.