Maria Shriver said Wednesday that her family has differences, but that they were raised on loyalty, as the Shriver family continues to navigate strain tied to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his role in Donald Trump’s cabinet. Her comments came as Tim Shriver said the family is trying to treat one another with dignity even when that is hardest inside their own home.
“I think people all have differences in every family so I think we were raised on family loyalty,” Maria Shriver said in an interview published Wednesday, April 22. She added that her father, Sargent Shriver, “brought people of different faiths to the table, different political parties, different skin colors and was always like, that is the table.”
The remarks land at a fraught moment for the family. Tim Shriver has been an outspoken critic of his cousin RFK Jr. since Kennedy ended his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, then later took a place in Trump’s cabinet. The family rift widened further after Kennedy made disparaging comments about children with autism at an April 2025 press conference, saying, “These are kids who will never pay taxes. They'll never hold a job,” and “They'll never play baseball. They'll never write a poem. They'll never go out on a date.”
Tim Shriver and his younger brother, Anthony Shriver, later wrote an open letter on Best Buddies’ website celebrating the gifts of people with autism. After that, Tim said the family was working hard to keep relationships intact. “Many of us are trying as best we can to hold fast to the idea that, even within our own family, sometimes the hardest place to treat people with dignity is at your own dinner table and so we're working hard on that,” he said. “And like a lot of families, I think we're a work in progress.”
He and Maria Shriver have also been outspoken critics of Trump, especially after he decided to rename the Kennedy Center. Asked about family members being upset by that move, Kennedy said, “Of course. I understand it, but I have bigger fish to fry.” The comments underscore how the family dispute is now tied not just to politics, but to identity, public reputation and the question of how far loyalty can stretch.
That is part of why Sargent Shriver’s posthumous book, We Called It a War: Lessons Learned from the Fight to End Poverty, feels newly relevant. Tim Shriver said the book is timely because it focuses on healing and strengthening the country rather than putting Americans against Americans. “Today we demonize the other side. Daddy tried to mobilize the other side. His goal was not to make a point but to make a difference,” he said.
The book’s release arrives as the family’s public divide remains unresolved, but Tim Shriver’s comments make the central point plain: the Shriver name still carries the idea of bridging differences, even when its own members cannot agree on politics, priorities or conduct. The question now is not whether the strain is real. It is whether the family’s old language of loyalty can survive this political moment intact.
