LOS ANGELES — Maria Shriver has filed for divorce from former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, citing irreconcilable differences as she seeks to end a 25-year marriage that had long captured the public’s attention.

The couple separated this year after Schwarzenegger told Shriver he had fathered the child of a former household employee.

In papers filed in county court Friday and posted on the TMZ website, Shriver asks for joint custody of their two sons, ages 17 and 13. Shriver is also asking for spousal support and for Schwarzenegger to pay the legal fees for both of them. The couple also have two adult daughters.

Shriver had moved out of the couple’s Brentwood home just before the news broke about Schwarzenegger’s other child.

Shriver is being represented by Laura Wasser, a high-profile Los Angeles divorce lawyer who has been involved in a series of celebrity divorce cases in Los Angeles. Her clients have included Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Stevie Wonder. Wasser did not return a call seeking comment.

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger, Adam Mendelsohn, declined to comment. The papers were filed without announcement in Superior Court in Los Angeles on Thursday at the start of a long holiday weekend, traditionally a time people in government put out information that they prefer to draw minimal public attention. Shriver was described by friends as mortified by the whole episode and seeking to move quietly beyond it.