IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Maria Shriver on how she talked to her kids about sex: 'Have fun with it'

NBC special anchor Maria Shriver opened up about how she talked to her now-grown-up daughters about sex.
Maria Shriver
NBC special anchor Maria Shriver joins Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager for a chat about how their parents spoke to them about sex, and how Maria, as a parent of grown kids now, talked to her own kids about it.Nathan Congleton / TODAY
/ Source: TODAY

How do you talk to your kids about sex? It’s a stressful subject for most parents, to say the least.

Maria Shriver opened up about how she navigated that tricky topic with her daughters, who are now both in their 20s.

“I said, enjoy sex, enjoy your femininity. It’s a sacred act, but have fun with it and enjoy your body. Enjoy being a woman,” the NBC special anchor said during a recent chat with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager.

Maria was raised in a Catholic family, and she said sex was definitely a taboo topic when she was growing up.

“If you went to Catholic school and you’re in your 50s and 60s, you were, like, guilted and shamed about sex and you thought you were going to hell if you had it,” she said.

Maria Shriver
"I said enjoy sex, enjoy your femininity. It’s a sacred act, but have fun with it and enjoy your body," Shriver said. Nathan Congleton / TODAY

Plenty of people are still uncomfortable talking about sex at all, let alone with their kids, and Maria said some of her girlfriends were shocked that she spoke so openly with her daughters.

But Maria said she didn't want her kids to feel any shame or embarrassment about sex as they became adults.

“I think the shaming of sex is really negative and I said, it’s a beautiful thing, she said. “It’s something to enjoy, it’s something to do with somebody that you love and care about, and don’t have any shame about it.”