Always feel like a million

Listening to: Nothing can change my love for you

After a 25-year marriage as one of the nation's leading power couples in Hollywood and politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have split up, they say in a joint statement.

Two months ago, Maria Shriver posed the question herself in a YouTube video: "How do you deal with transitions in your life?"

In the last two years, she had lost her parents, Sargent and Eunice Shriver, and her uncle Ted Kennedy. Her husband Arnold Schwarzenegger had been essentially run out of Sacramento after a disappointing term as California governor, and he was returning to action movies at age 63.

Shriver, 55, found herself with four children growing up and going off to college and no full-time job. She was no longer First Lady. Her TV news career had been put on hold for seven years while Schwarzenegger was in the statehouse.

"Everything she knows has been moving out from under her," a longtime friend tells PEOPLE. "She has been keeping this very quiet. I don’t know what she is going to do next; everything at the moment is on hold."

Everything, including her 25-year marriage.

Late Monday, whispers that one of the most famous Hollywood/political couples had been leading separate lives for weeks and perhaps months were finally confirmed: "We are living apart," they said in a joint statement that spoke to the fact they both were at a crossroads.

"This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us," they said.