She is of Irish and Iranian descent Her father, Parviz Gharib-Afshar was an Iranian television personality and currently has a show on the Persian Broadcasting Company, Tapesh.
She was married to American actor Dylan McDermott. On September 27, 2007, People magazine confirmed that Rose and McDermott have separated. Nearly eight months after the duo announced they had separated, the actor filed for divorce from his wife on May 21, 2008. Without either using lawyers, they peacefully separated as friends, with joint custody of their children. Their divorce was finalized on January 2, 2009. They have two daughters, Colette and Charlotte. She resides in Brentwood, Los Angeles with her daughters.
While attending college at the University of California, Los Angeles, she founded Resource, a program to feed the homeless. She is a sponsor for VIP (Violence Is Preventable), which helps abused children, and volunteers at CCFA (Caring for Children with AIDS). She is active with the organization V-Day, created by Eve Ensler, her former stepmother in-law, to end violence against women. Shiva has been asked to be a spokesperson for Amnesty International's Refugee Program. Shiva writes human rights essays at her own blog at Huffington Post.
