Justin Trudeau becomes only the second Canadian prime minister EVER whose marriage ended while in office – 39 years after father Pierre separated from his mother
Justin Trudeau is the first prime minister to go through a divorce since his father Pierre divorced his mother in 1977.
Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s 15th Prime Minister, died in 2000 at the age of 80, decades after his sudden divorce from his wife of six years, Margaret Trudeau.
Margaret would divorce her husband in 1984 some seven years after their separation, during Prime Minister Pierre’s last year in office.
History has now repeated itself as son Justin’s 18-year relationship with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, 48, collapsed on Wednesday with their sudden separation.
The shocking announcement abruptly ended what had been a prominent political power couple for the past eight years, and comes as many continue to speculate whether Trudeau, 51, will run for a fourth term in 2025.
Justin Trudeau is the first prime minister to go through a divorce since his father split with his mother in 1977, following his sudden split from wife Sophie on Wednesday
Canada’s 15th Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, died in 2000 at the age of 80, decades after his sudden divorce from his wife of six years at the time, the much younger Margaret Trudeau
Now ready to follow his father’s legacy, the Liberal politician will have to face the length of his remaining term on his own for the next year – while also juggling a strained family life.
His parents’ story is eerily similar.
Then the leader of the country’s Liberal Party — and something of a political star who inspired a period of “Trudeaumania” in the late ’60s — Pierre Trudeau secretly married Margaret Trudeau in 1971, she was 22 and he was 51.
They met on the island of Tahiti when Margaret was just 18, and the late Trudeau later recalled, “I thought her eyes were extremely beautiful.”
They married in a traditional ceremony in North Vancouver and spent the following weekend skiing in Whistler.
The official honeymoon took place aboard a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, and the couple would return to Ottawa days later to face the court of public opinion following their whirlwind romance.
When Trudeaumania was at its peak, the union left countless “fazed young women” heartbroken, with the charismatic Liberal Party poster boy now off the market, the newspapers wrote at the time.
Citing Margaret’s free looks and wavy brown hair, journalists wrote how this woman was left devastated by the playboy’s newfound love with an “unknown flower child.”
Nine months later, Justin – who would follow in his father’s footsteps for the first time in 40 years by becoming the country’s 23rd prime minister – was born. hospital where the future politician was born.
In the years that followed, the family – including Justin – increasingly came into the public eye.
When the leader of the country’s Liberal Party — and a sort of political star who inspired a period of “Trudeaumania” in the late 1960s — Pierre Trudeau secretly married Margaret Trudeau in 1971, she was 22 and he was 51
Margaret is three months pregnant with the eventual Prime Minister at the time and is seen with Pierre later that year touring Moscow’s Red Square in Russia. In the years that followed, the family—including Justin—became increasingly in the public eye, and their marriage would eventually burn out six years later.
During their marriage, many young Margaret raised eyebrows — with the young 20-something constantly singing praise songs about her husband to the press, even claiming that he “taught me a lot about loving.” She later said she felt “unfulfilled” as the Prime Minister’s wife
Margaret in particular raised eyebrows – as the young twenty-something was constantly singing praise songs about her husband to the press, even stating at one point that he “taught me a lot about loving.”
In 1974, while the couple were vacationing in Venezuela, Margaret offered a toast and sang a song she had written herself for the wife of the South American president.
The couple’s apparent differences culminated in a seven-year divorce that began in 1977, about a year into the politician’s third term.
At the time, a letterhead from the Prime Minister’s Office read: ‘Pierre and Margaret Trudeau announce that they will be separated and separated due to Margaret’s wishes.
Margaret renounces all privileges as the Prime Minister’s wife and wants to leave the marriage and pursue an independent career. Pierre gains custody of their three sons, giving Margaret generous access to them.
“Pierre accepts Margaret’s decision with regret and they both pray that their divorce will lead to a better relationship.”
In the wake of the sudden announcement, many theorized that the 29-year age difference between the two spurred their divorce.
In a later interview with The Globe and Mail in 1982, Margaret confirmed these theories, adding that she had trouble adjusting to life at 24 Sussex, where she said she was cut off from her friends and her interests by security.
Trudeau and wife Sophie (pictured at a Canada Day event in Ottawa on July 1) announced their separation on Wednesday after 18 years of marriage
They pledged to “remain a close-knit family with deep love and respect for each other and for all they had built”
Justin and Sophie in a photo Sophie shared to mark their anniversary. Their split is the second in the history of the Canadian Prime Minister’s office
She also revealed that she felt frustration towards her then-husband, due to his continued dedication and never-ending work as Canada’s head of state.
“I felt unfulfilled, unhappy, trapped in an old-fashioned marriage. I wanted my own life and my own career,” she told the publication at the time.
In a later interview, she denied cheating on her husband and spoke of rumors of a link with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger after moving to New York to pursue a career as a photographer following their split.
“They were vicious innuendos and suggestions — absolutely distasteful,” Margaret snapped in an interview with the Ladies’ Home Journal.
“Apparently, women aren’t even allowed to talk to a man without the level of being interpreted as sexual.”
At the time, the former first wife was rumored to have moved to the US to seek an abortion, as it was still illegal in Canada at the time. Margaret, who now lives in Montreal, has vehemently denied those baseless allegations.
Six years after their separation, in 1983, Margaret, then 35, filed for divorce, citing the lengthy separation. The divorce was official in April 1984, a month before Pierre finished his fourth and final term in office.
Just weeks later, Ottawa businessman Margaret remarried Fried Kemper. Before that, Margaret had several affairs with movie stars Jack Nicholson and Ryan O’Neal, which she later elaborated into two autobiographies, Beyond Reason and Consequences.
In his own memoir, Justin – who said in 2014 that his own marriage is “not perfect” – reflects on the divorce, which was finalized when he was just entering puberty.
“What I felt instead was a sense of diminished self-esteem,” the politician recalled
“Part of me thought I should have been reason enough for her to stay.”
History would then repeat itself early Wednesday, when Trudeau announced the divorce on Instagram.
His office also released a statement to confirm that they had reached a legal agreement and to reveal that the couple will remain amicable and will soon be holidaying together with their three children.
The spokesperson added that Sophie has since moved out of the family home to another residence in Ottawa, and that the couple have “worked to ensure that all legal and ethical steps related to their decision to separate have been taken’.
“{They) will continue to do so in the future,’ the statement added.
Canada’s Globe and Mail reports that the couple will share custody of their three children.