Named versions of the sudden divorce of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

After “many meaningful and difficult conversations” with Sophie, “we have decided to leave,” the Canadian prime minister informed the world.

“As always, we remain a close-knit family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything that we have built and will continue to build,” wrote Justin Trudeau and asked that their privacy be respected for the well-being of the couple’s children.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Canada’s Prime Minister’s Office said the couple had signed a legal separation agreement.

“They have worked to ensure that all legal and ethical steps regarding their decision to separate have been taken and will continue to do so moving forward,” the premier’s office said in a statement.

The shocking announcement put an abrupt end to what had been considered almost an exemplary couple for the past eight years. Now many observers are wondering if Trudeau, 51, will run for a fourth term in 2025.

The history of a broken marriage goes back to the beginning of the 21st century, when Justin Trudeau, who had worked for several years as a teacher in Vancouver, returned to Montreal, where he met his future wife.

According to the official biography of the Canadian Prime Minister, in 2002 Justin returned home to Montreal, where he met Sophie Gregoire.

But, apparently, Justin and Sophie (she is three years younger than him) knew each other before – she was a childhood friend and classmate of Trudeau’s older brother Michel, who died at the age of 23 as a result of an avalanche in 1998. They really began to meet after the “reunion” in adulthood.

They got married in 2005 and had three children – Xavier, Ella-Grace and Adrian. The youngest of them is only nine years old.

According to Trudeau’s Liberal Party website, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau earned a degree in communications from the University of Montreal, later worked in sales and advertising before becoming a television and radio reporter.

Back in April, the Canadian prime minister enthused about his wife in an Instagram post dedicated to her birthday (the social network is owned by Meta, a company recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation): “There is no one I would rather have next to me. … I love you, My love”. And Sophie reciprocated on June 18, Father’s Day: “This man could carry the love he has for his children anywhere. Dads, never underestimate your role as guides in your family to your sons and your daughters. Be kind to yourself, watch your mental state, slow down in silence if necessary… and most importantly, take the risk of loving everything you have.”

And last year, in another romantic post commemorating their wedding anniversary, Sophie wrote: “We’ve been through sunny days, big storms and everything in between, and it’s not over yet. You all know that I try to be honest: long-term relationships are difficult in many ways. They require constant work, flexibility, compromise, self-sacrifice, dedication, patience, effort, and more. None of us are perfect and therefore no relationship is perfect, but love is only true when it keeps you safe, sets you free and makes you grow. Eternal love”.

But, as the press notes, Trudeau’s wife did not write anything this year about their marriage – but perhaps because the anniversary coincided with the day of Tina Turner’s death, and they had to pay tribute to the late singer on social networks. True, given the announcement of a divorce, this silence looks symbolic.

Even the tabloids can only guess what triggered the breakup of the family. But almost ten years ago, Justin and Sophie were forced to deny rumors of extramarital affairs. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in October 2014, Trudeau was asked about his marriage and whether he or his wife cheated.

“Our marriage is not perfect, and we had difficult ups and downs, but Sophie remains my best friend, my partner, my love,” the politician admitted then. “We are honest with each other, even when it hurts.”

And when an interviewer asked if “ups and downs” was a code for extramarital affairs, Trudeau replied, “No.” And he explained that he meant “the difficulties that any real marriage faces.”

Justin Trudeau revealed that at times his wife “hates” his job: “I have a very difficult job that requires a lot of stress. Everyone knows how difficult it is to balance family responsibilities with work, because of which I am running all over the country and working extremely hard. There are times when she hates my job and she hates me for loving my job.”

And Sophie, in a 2015 interview with the Globe and Mail, was less candid: “Ask if anything has happened in our lives — I won’t say if it has happened or not — as if we’re going to answer it.”

“I can tell you right away that no marriage is easy,” she added. – I’m almost proud of the fact that we had difficulties, yes, because we want authenticity. We want the truth. We want to get closer as individuals throughout our lives, we are both dreamers and want to be together for as long as possible. I’m happy we had to go through this.”

And yet – from today you can see a hint of the upcoming breakup in Sophie Gregoire Trudeau’s speech on last year’s podcast with Meghan Markle. The First Lady of Canada spoke there about her desire to abandon traditional female domestic roles. She spoke of how all women “strive to be free in who they are” as they bear “most of the responsibility” at home and with children.

“Women across the planet are still the core of the family, they still carry the bulk of the burden of the home, contributing to the well-being of the family and making most of the decisions regarding children,” Sophie said. “But I think we are all lionesses, we all have that inside of us, and we all strive to be free in who we are.”

And while Sophie never mentioned any marital differences during the roughly hour-long podcast, it’s worth remembering that she sacrificed a lot for her husband’s career. She gave up a career in television, where she worked as a correspondent for CTV’s eTalk, to take on a more formal role as Justin Trude’s campaign companion.

In the current situation with the collapse of what seemed such a strong unit of Canadian society, there is also a family-historical aspect.

Justin Trudeau became the first Canadian prime minister to survive a divorce in office since his father, Pierre Trudeau, who also headed the government, unexpectedly parted ways with his mother Margaret in 1977. The official divorce of Trudeau Sr. took place in 1984, in the last year of his tenure as prime minister. Pierre Trudeau secretly married Margaret Trudeau in 1971, when she was only 22 years old, and he was already 51. They met even earlier on the island of Tahiti, when the girl was only 18 years old. Shortly after the wedding, the couple had Justin, who, 40 years later, would follow in his father’s footsteps for the first time, also becoming Prime Minister of Canada. But the happy marriage did not last long – six years later, the office of the head of government officially announced: “Pierre and Margaret Trudeau announce that, in accordance with Margaret’s wishes, they will begin to live separately. Margaret renounces all privileges of being the Prime Minister’s wife and wishes to end the marriage and pursue an independent career. Pierre will receive custody of their three sons, which will give Margaret generous access to them. Pierre accepts Margaret’s decision with regret, and both pray that their separation will lead to a better relationship between them.”

After this sudden announcement, many speculated that the 29-year age difference pushed them to break up. Later, in an interview with the Canadian edition of The Globe and Mail in 1982, Margaret confirmed this version, adding that she had problems adapting to life in the prime minister’s house, where, according to her, she was cut off from her friends and her interests due to for security. The woman also admitted that she was disappointed with her then-husband because of his constant work as head of the Canadian government.

“I felt unsatisfied, unhappy, trapped in an old-fashioned marriage. I wanted to have my own life and my own career,” Justin Trudeau’s mother said. And in a later interview, she denied that she cheated on her husband, referring to rumors of a relationship with Mick Jagger. Why is there a rocker from the Rolling Stones! Some in those days wondered if Justin Trudeau was in fact the son of … Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Even in 2018, the office of the Canadian politician had to come out with a refutation of this “version”.

There were also rumors at the time that the former First Lady of Canada had moved to the US to have an abortion, as it was still illegal in the Maple Leaf Country at the time. Margaret also vehemently denied these claims.

Six years after their separation from Pierre Trudeau, Margaret, who was 35 at the time, filed for divorce, citing a long separation. Their divorce was formalized in April 1984, a month before her ex-husband ended his fourth and final term as prime minister. And after a few weeks, the woman who became free got married again – and a businessman from Ottawa, Fried Kemper. Before that, Margaret had – and she herself admitted it – several novels with movie stars Jack Nicholson and Ryan O’Neal.

But let’s return to 2023, to the divorce of the current Canadian prime minister – the separation of the parents, apparently, left an imprint on the personality of Justin Trudeau. Back in 2014, while musing about his own marriage being “not perfect,” he reflected on the parental divorce that was finalized when he was still a boy. “I felt a sense of low self-esteem,” the politician recalled. “Part of me thought I should have been reason enough for her to stay.”

And, as recent events show, the story of the collapse of the Trudeau family repeated itself decades later.

A spokesman for the premier’s office said Sophie had moved from the family home to “another residence” in Ottawa. The Globe and Mail reports that the separated couple will share custody of their three children, who will live with their father at Rideau Cottage. The mother is expected to visit the premier’s residence frequently to stay with the children, and will stay there whenever Trudeau is away.