Maria Shriver's alleged affair with her husband's campaign strategist has recently come to light, according to a shocking report.
The New York Post claims that Shriver and Matthew Dowd started their relationship back in 2006, while Dowd was working as a chief strategist for Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial reelection campaign.
Despite Schwarzenegger finding out about the affair, Shriver continued the relationship.
The couple officially split in 2011 after it was revealed that Schwarzenegger had an affair with their housekeeper and fathered a child with her.
The report states that Shriver introduced Dowd as her boyfriend at her cousin Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s wedding last month, held at the Kennedy Compound in Massachusetts.
Initial reports suggest that the couple has been seeing each other for less than a year.
However, the New York Post alleges that the affair had actually begun in 2006 when Dowd was still working closely with Schwarzenegger.
Dowd, who is now a political analyst for ABC News, denied the affair back in 2006, claiming that they were just “good friends” at the time.
Former campaign staffers of Schwarzenegger have now come forward to confirm the affair between Shriver and Dowd.
They claim that there was a lot of flirtation between the two, and that they frequently spent time alone together.
Schwarzenegger allegedly removed Dowd from his inner circle upon discovering the relationship, which caused constant fights between him and Shriver during the campaign trail.
Even after Schwarzenegger won a second term as California governor, Shriver reportedly continued to see Dowd on the side.
The Post alleges that she visited Dowd at the Four Seasons in New York in 2007 and that they were seen together in Santa Monica, California.
When Schwarzenegger's marriage to Shriver ended, he supposedly forbade anyone from publicly discussing Shriver's relationship with Dowd.
Matthew Dowd, who comes from a large Irish Catholic family, is the third of eleven children and has been married and divorced twice.
His second marriage ended tragically after one of his twin daughters passed away in the hospital.
He worked for Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial reelection campaign before becoming a political analyst for ABC News.
Dowd and Shriver were first seen together publicly last October, and both have a history of heartbreak.
Maria Shriver, the niece of Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, was married to Arnold Schwarzenegger for 25 years and they have four children together.
Dowd and Shriver, who are both currently working in broadcasting, made their relationship public at Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s wedding.
The divorce between Shriver and Schwarzenegger has yet to be finalized, but they have been living apart since Schwarzenegger admitted to having an affair and fathering a child with their housekeeper.
This scandalous affair between Maria Shriver and Matthew Dowd adds another layer of complexity to the already tumultuous relationship between Shriver and Schwarzenegger.
It remains to be seen how this revelation will impact their ongoing divorce proceedings and the public's perception of the couple.
