Unlike her husband's cyborg alter ego, Maria Shriver won't be back.
California's first lady has revealed she will not resume her gig at NBC News once Arnold Schwarzenegger's term as governor ends. And she blames the media's coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death as the reason why.
"It was then that I knew that the TV news business had changed and so had I," said Shriver in remarks Tuesday at a women's conference featuring the spouses of Democratic and Republican presidential contenders. "I called NBC News and told them I'm not coming back."
Shriver, a former contributing anchor and reporter to Dateline NBC and before that an NBC Nightly News weekend anchor, took an unpaid leave of absence from the network in August 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger embarked on his ultimately successful gubernatorial bid.
Since he took office, Shriver has worked behind the scenes on a variety of causes, including advocating anti-poverty initiatives, promoting community service and raising the profile of women's contributions to the state.
Despite her resignation from her day job, she didn't go completely MIA from the airwaves. She twice guest anchored Dateline and filled in as host of a panel discussion on breast cancer on CNN's Larry King Live last March.
Shriver, who has also moonlighted also a children's book author, broke the news about her future at the annual California Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women.
But it wasn't the first time Shriver has hinted that overblown and sensationalized coverage has been a turn-off for her.
Last May, speaking before an audience of Google employees, Shriver indicated she had planned on returning to the news division, but decided to hold off after watching the media circus over the Playmate's passing.
"I was just flabbergasted by that," Shriver said at the time. "How it was across the board, all encompassing and I just thought to myself, this is not where I want to work. I actually quit and I said, you know what, this ship has sailed, it's not for me."
While she seems content to spend her time raising the couple's four children and continuing her advocacy work, it appears that Mrs. Arnold hasn't completely ruled out a return to broadcast television.
Appearing on the Today show Tuesday morning about the Conference on Women, she quipped that "since I didn't have a job at NBC any more, I had to get a moderating job here at the conference."
That prompted Today's Natalie Morales to reply, "You always have a job here, Maria."
Shriver thanked her and said, "I'll call you after the show."