Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger Enjoy Rare Family Reunion in Honor of His 79th Birthday: “So Lucky”

The Gist

• Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a rare family reunion in honor of Schwarzenegger’s 79th birthday.

• In photos posted to Instagram by their oldest daughter, Katherine Schwarzenegger, the exes smiled as they sat side by side.

• Arnold and Shriver finalized their divorce in December 2021 after 25 years of marriage. They share four kids.

Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s 79th birthday celebration resulted in an unexpected family reunion on Thursday. In a photo shared to his oldest daughter, Katherine Schwarzenegger‘s Instagram account, Arnold smiled brightly as he sat side by side with his ex-wife, Maria Shriver, during a day of family fun.

“Happy Birthday, Dad ❤️ So lucky you’re ours… and even luckier our kids get you as Opa,” Katherine, 36, captioned the Instagram photo gallery, referring to Arnold’s grandchildren: Lyla Maria Pratt, 5, Eloise Christina Pratt, 4, and Ford Fitzgerald Pratt. The first image features Arnold carrying an elementary school-age Katherine dressed as a clown for Halloween. Other father-daughter snapshots include moments from Katherine’s grade school day’s and screenshots from more recent video calls with her dad.

Mixed in among the sentimental pictures is a photo of Shriver and Arnold seated side-by-side in snow gear during a family ski trip in March. “Fam ski trip,” Katherine captioned the original Instagram photos of herself and her family hitting the slopes.

Though the exes, who were married for 25 years, finalized their divorce in 2021, Katherine’s throwback photos serve as a reminder that Arnold and Shriver remain on good terms while co-parenting their four children. In addition to Katherine, the pair share 35-year-old daughter Christina Maria Aurelia Schwarzenegger, 32-year-old son Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger, and 28-year-old son Christopher Sargent Shriver Schwarzenegger.

Shriver and Arnold met at the at the Robert F. Kennedy celebrity tennis tournament in New York City in August 1977, according to People. After dating for nearly nine years, the pair tied the knot at a large ceremony in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Shriver and Arnold faced public scrutiny in 1996 when the professional bodybuilder revealed he had an affair with Mildred Patricia Baena, the family’s housekeeper. Arnold and Baena share a 28-year-old son named Joseph Baena.

Following the incident, Shriver and Arnold remained together until their official separation in 2021.

Read the original article on InStyle