Maria Shriver shares emotional message supporting 'extraordinary' cousin and JFK's granddaughter amid cancer battle


Tatiana Schlossberg recently announced her battle with terminal cancer


maria shriver© Photo: Rex
Faye James
Faye JamesSenior Editor
November 24, 2025
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Over the weekend Maria Shriver penned an emotional message in support of her 'extraordinary' cousin Tatiana Schlossberg who recently announced her battle with terminal cancer. 

"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," Maria shared on Instagram. 

"Tatiana is a beautiful writer, journalist, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. This piece is about what she has been going through for the last year and a half," she continued.  

Maria penned an emotional message on Instagram© NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Maria penned an emotional message on Instagram

"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. And let it be a reminder to be grateful for the life you are living today, right now, this very minute. Link to the full piece in my stories," she added.

Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg's daughter, Tatiana shared that she has terminal cancer last week. 

Tatiana Schlossberg attends her book signing at the In goop Health Summit San Francisco 2019 at Craneway Pavilion on November 16, 2019 in Richmond, California.© Amber De Vos
Tatiana Schlossberg, Marias' cousin

The 35-year-old revealed she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in an essay published by The New Yorker on November 22.

Tatiana explained that she learned about her illness after her doctor detected an abnormal white blood cell count following the birth of her second child in May 2024. 

Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, tours the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum with US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy (2nd R), Jack Kennedy Schlossberg (2nd L) and Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg in Boston, Massachusetts, December 2, 2022© POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, tours the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum with US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy (2nd R), Jack Kennedy Schlossberg (2nd L) and Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg i

"A few hours later, my doctor noticed that my blood count looked strange. A normal white-blood-cell count is around four to eleven thousand cells per microliter. Mine was a hundred and thirty-one thousand cells per microliter," she penned.

She continued: "'It could just be something related to pregnancy and delivery,' the doctor said, 'or it could be leukemia.'" Tatiana was later diagnosed with "a rare mutation called Inversion 3".

Tatiana Schlossberg attends Intelligencer Live: Our Warmer Future presented by New York Magazine and Brookfield Place on September 05, 2019 in New York City© Getty Images for New York Magazi
Tatiana has terminal cancer

John F. Kennedy's granddaughter went on to write about the treatment options available to her. "I could not be cured by a standard course," she shared. Tatiana explained that she was told she would need months of chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant.

 "I did not – could not – believe that they were talking about me. I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew," she said.

"I had a son whom I loved more than anything and a newborn I needed to take care of," she added. Tatiana and husband, George Moran, tied the knot in 2017 and share a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.

Tatiana spent five weeks at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital after giving birth to her daughter. She was later transferred to Memorial Sloan Kettering for a bone marrow transplant and continued her treatment at home with chemotherapy. 

In January, she began participating in a clinical trial for CAR-T-cell therapy, an immunotherapy designed to target specific blood cancers. However, her doctor told her that she had about a year to live.

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