Maria Shriver recently discussed her healing journey after her split from Arnold Schwarzenegger, which involved visiting a convent. After her divorce from Schwarzenegger, Shriver said she felt that she “had the freedom or permission” to embrace herself. During an appearance on the “Making Space with Hoda Kotb” podcast, Shriver said, “I first felt like, ‘Oh, I’d better go and figure out like, what is the truth?’”

In her truth-seeking mission, Shriver confessed that she visited a convent. She shared, “I went to a convent, a cloistered convent, and to be in silence and look for advice. The Reverend Mother there said to me, ‘I think you came here looking for permission.’” Shriver continued to share her experience, comparing it to a scene from “The Sound of Music.”

While speaking with the Reverend Mother, she told Shriver, “You can’t come live here, but you do have permission to go out and become Maria.” Shriver admitted that she was sobbing after she broke down in tears, overwhelmed with emotion. Shriver said she asked herself, “I was like, ‘who is that?’”

She said during her enlightening conversation, Shriver noted that she has “never given [herself] permission to feel, to be vulnerable, to be weak, to be brought to my knees, and the world did it to me.”

On Shriver’s path to self-discovery, she was determined to take the next step after she parted ways with Schwarzenegger. “Then I was like, ‘Okay, God, let’s go. I’m going to take this and learn everything I can about my role and what I need to learn.’” She added that during tough times, when the “universe knocks you [down],” Shriver decided to focus on what she learned from the experience of her divorce, permitting herself to start learning.

Shriver and 75-year-old Schwarzenegger called it quits in 2011 after 25 years of marriage, citing “irreconcilable differences.” The two filed for divorce after Shriver discovered her ex-husband had secretly fathered a child with the family’s housekeeper Mildred Baena in 1996. After Schwarzenegger’s infidelity went public, “The Terminator” actor confessed he had several affairs with other women.

In his memoir, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,” Schwarzenegger detailed his double life, revealing he had an affair with another actress while married to Shriver amid their public scandal. Schwarzenegger and Shriver share sons, Patrick and Christopher, along with their daughters, Christina and Katherine. Schwarzenegger also has a fifth child with Baena, named Joseph, who is a fitness fanatic and actor like his father.

Going through a divorce, especially one littered with scandal, can be devastating and healing from something that overwhelming can take time. However, Maria Shriver is coming out on the other side of things. Hopefully, she can inspire other women in a similar situation and let them know that the pain is temporary, but everything works out in the end.