Maria Shriver Announces 'Deeply Personal' Poetry Book: 'It Started When I Was in a Dark Place in My Life'

'I Am Maria: My Poems and Reflections on Heartbreak, Healing, and Hope' will hit bookshelves on April 1, 2025

<p>Denise Truscello/Getty; Penguin Random House</p> Maria Shriver is releasing her first poetry book,

Denise Truscello/Getty; Penguin Random House

Maria Shriver is releasing her first poetry book, 'I Am Maria' in April 2025

Maria Shriver’s first foray into poetry is about as personal as it gets.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, the journalist, 68, announced in her newsletter, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, that she is gearing up to release her first-ever book of poetry, I Am Maria: My Poems and Reflections on Healing, Heartbreak, and Hope, through her publishing imprint The Open Field.

In her essay announcing the news, titled “Find Your Way to Yourself,” Shriver explained that she has “waited a long time” to share the poems with the world — though she knows the project may feel a little out of left field for fans of her other work.

“This new book is a departure for me, and when I tell people what it is, they simply stare at me. Then they say, ‘Okay, wow, cool. I can’t wait!’ The truth is, I’ve waited a long time to publish my new book: I Am Maria: My Poems and Reflections on Heartbreak, Healing, and Hope,” she wrote. “For the longest time, I never thought being Maria was enough.”

Related: Maria Shriver Slams Harrison Butker After Controversial Graduation Speech: 'Demeaning to Women'

The wait to release the poetry collection may have been long, but the journey to where she is now took even longer, Shriver explained in the essay.

“It’s taken me a really long time to get to this place — to own my own name, to own my own life, to find healing and to find my way home,” she wrote. “Home to myself and home to the many facets that make up Maria. I’m excited to publish this book of my poems and reflections because I believe that writing poetry from the frontline of your life can be an extraordinary tool in healing.”

“All of us, regardless of how we grew up, need healing,” she added.

<p>Penguin Random House</p> 'I Am Maria' by Maria Shriver

Penguin Random House

'I Am Maria' by Maria Shriver

The contents of I Am Maria document her own journey of self-discovery and healing, Shriver explained. The starting point? A “dark place."

“I’ve long been a writer, but taking a stab at poetry? Well, that was a whole new experience for me, and quite a daunting one at that,” she wrote. “It started when I was in a dark place in my life, and writing poetry helped me dig my way out. It helped me make sense of so many things in my life.”

“For instance, it helped me learn that that heartbreak doesn’t come from the end of one particular relationship,” wrote Shriver, who was previously married to Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It comes from all the things that accumulate in your heart from when you were young. By digging deep within, I realized that my heartbreak was decades old, but that I finally had the power to heal it and myself.”

Through her healing journey, Shriver gained some “hard-earned wisdom,” which she shares in the “deeply personal” pages of I Am Maria as a “guide for others navigating their own life paths,” per a press release.

“After navigating the complexities of life — chasing success, meeting expectations, raising a family, going through divorce and carrying the weight of who she thought she needed to be — Shriver found herself at a turning point,” the release states. “Despite everything she had accomplished, she felt there was a disconnect between the life she was living and the one she truly wanted. Rather than turning away from these feelings, she embarked on an inward journey to strip away the layers and the labels and see what truly lay within.”

<p>Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty</p> Maria Shriver

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Maria Shriver

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In an official statement, Shriver said, “I never imagined I’d write a book of poetry, but that’s the great thing about life. It can continue to surprise you, even at my age. I believe we all carry a hunger to express our truth.”

"Poetry helped unearth a part of myself that I had buried. It unleashed a voice and a sense of being that felt unknown at first, but that eventually felt like home,” she said. “I hope my words inspire others to not wait as long as I did to feel at home within themselves. I hope these poems encourage readers to get quiet, look within and find a voice they didn’t even know they had.”

I Am Maria: My Poems and Reflections on Healing, Heartbreak, and Hope will hit bookshelves on April 1, 2025 — the first day of National Poetry Month.

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