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Shriver is the first cousin of Caroline Kennedy, Tatiana Schlossberg’s mother
Carsen Holadayin New YorkMonday 24 November 2025 13:51 GMTComments
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Maria Shriver has shared her support for her cousin Tatiana Schlossberg, who announced her terminal cancer diagnosis in a devastating essay over the weekend.
The journalist and former First Lady of California shared on her social media platforms: “If you can only read one thing today, please make/take the time for this extraordinary piece of writing by my cousin Caroline’s extraordinary daughter Tatiana.”
Shriver, 70, said she was “blown away” by Schlossberg, 35, who is the granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy and the daughter of Shriver’s first cousin Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg.
“This piece is about what she has been going through for the last year and a half. It’s an ode to all the doctors and nurses who toil on the frontlines of humanity. It’s so many things, but best to read it yourself, and be blown away by one woman’s life story,” Shriver wrote.
Schlossberg announced her acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis in a poignant essay published Saturday in The New Yorker, recalling how doctors noticed an abnormality in her white blood cell count following the birth of her daughter in May 2024. Acute myeloid leukemia is a rare cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
Maria Shriver has shared her support for her cousin Tatiana Schlossberg, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer (Getty Images)The environmental journalist said that despite her treatments, the cancer has returned.
“During the latest clinical trial, my doctor told me that he could keep me alive for a year, maybe,” Schlossberg wrote. “My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me.”
In the weekend essay, titled “A Battle With My Blood,” the mother of two said she was shocked by her diagnosis because she always thought of herself as healthy. She wrote about the pain that her diagnosis has brought her family and slammed her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his agenda as health secretary.
In addition to Shriver, many other public figures rallied to praise Schlossberg for her bravery in tributes on social media.
Former TV host Katie Couric commented on Shriver’s post, writing: “My heart is breaking for Tatiana. And her family. My daughters and I are holding her in our hearts.”
Meghan McCain called the essay an “absolutely devastating and heartbreaking piece.”
“Sending Tatiana and the entire Schlossberg/Kennedy family prayers, healing and peace in this journey. Life is so precious,” she wrote on X.
Schlossberg’s brother, Jack Schlossberg, shared a link to the essay and blurbs of it on his Instagram stories, writing, “Life is short — let it rip.”
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