Maria Shriver has admitted she felt "invisible" standing next to Arnold Schwarzenegger during their 25-year marriage.
During an appearance on the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast on Monday, the journalist admitted some people blanked her when they came up to the couple at events.
"I would find myself getting angry at people who came up and didn't acknowledge that I existed when I was standing next to Arnold, or when I was standing next to my uncle or somebody," she said. "And then I (realised) they were teaching me a lesson that it's not about whether they see me. Do I see me? Am I visible to me?"
Maria and Arnold, who share four children, first met in August 1977 and wed in 1986. She filed for divorce in July 2011 after it was discovered Arnold had an affair with the family's housekeeper and fathered a son, Joseph Baena, now aged 25. Their divorce was finalised in 2021.
Elsewhere in the interview, Maria revealed she went to a convent and got permission to finally be herself.
"I went to a convent, a cloistered convent, and to be in silence and look for advice… The Reverend Mother there said to me… 'I think you came here looking for permission,'" she recalled.
"She says, 'You can't come live here, but you do have permission to go out and become Maria.' I was like, sobbing. I was like, 'Who is that?'... And then I was like, 'Okay, God, let's go. I'm gonna take this and learn everything I can about my role and what I need to learn.'"
Source: © Cover Media
