Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife are separating.
Trudeau, 51, announced Wednesday that he and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, 48, who have been married for 18 years, have decided to split up. Grégoire Trudeau released a similarly worded statement on her Instagram account.
“Sophie and I would like to share that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate,” Trudeau wrote in a short statement.
“As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build.”
The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying the two have signed a “legal separation agreement” and “have worked to ensure that all legal and ethical steps with regards to their decision to separate have been taken, and will continue to do so moving forward.”
“They remain a close family and Sophie and the Prime Minister are focused on raising their kids in a safe, loving and collaborative environment,” the statement read.
“Both parents will be a constant presence in their children’s lives and Canadians can expect to often see the family together.”
The statement added that the family will vacation together beginning next week.
“For the well-being of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy.”
Grégoire Trudeau, a former television reporter, married Trudeau in 2005. They have three children.
Speaking to Maclean’s magazine in 2005, Trudeau said that he and Grégoire Trudeau began dating after they co-hosted the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ball, a fundraiser for a children’s foundation.
“We laughed, we joked and there was a definite chemistry between us,” Trudeau told the magazine.
The two were married in May 2005 at Montreal’s Sainte-Madeleine d’Outremont church, in a ceremony that attracted a lot of buzz for a then pre-politics Trudeau.
Speaking to Global News in 2015, Grégoire Trudeau said that “no marriage is easy,” and that she was “almost kind of proud of the fact that we’ve had hardship.”
“We want authenticity. We want truth. We want to grow closer as individuals through our lifetime and we’re both dreamers and we want to be together for as long as we can,” Grégoire Trudeau said.
Trudeau and Grégoire Trudeau’s last public appearance together was on Canada Day in Ottawa.
While present on the various campaign trails and at some public events, Grégoire Trudeau has largely avoided the spotlight since Trudeau took power in 2015. Speaking to Global News that year, Grégoire Trudeau said “I’m at home with the kids.”
“It was a decision that I had the luck and luxury, in a way, to be able to make,” Grégoire Trudeau said.
“(Politics is) not really part of my daily life. It’s like one per cent of my life, and I like it that way.”
But being married to a Trudeau meant often being recognized while in public, Grégoire Trudeau told Macleans in 2005.
“Wherever we go, in a restaurant or on the street or on a ski hill or even travelling, people come up to us and they’re just so friendly,” Grégoire Trudeau told the magazine.
“They always have a super story to tell us concerning his dad or when he was young and I’m always interested to get to know stories about Justin and his family.”
Trudeau and Grégoire Trudeau initially lived in Montreal, where their son Xavier, 15, and daughter Ella-Grace, 14, were born. They moved to Ottawa in 2010, two years after he was elected as the MP for the Montreal riding of Papineau. They had their third child, nine-year-old son Hadrien, after the move to Ottawa.
Trudeau is the second prime minister to announce a separation while in office. His father, Pierre Trudeau, separated from wife Margaret in 1979 and the two divorced in 1984.
Trudeau has repeatedly insisted that he will lead the Liberal Party into the next election, which is expected in 2025 – unless the Liberals’ supply and confidence deal with the opposition New Democrats breaks down before then.
As a child, Trudeau lived through the very public separation of his parents while they were both under intense media scrutiny.
Global News has learned that the Trudeau children will continue to reside at Rideau Cottage, where the family has lived since Trudeau became prime minister, and that Grégoire Trudeau will be moving to a different residence – but is expected to frequently return to Rideau Cottage and stay there while Trudeau travels.
Grégoire Trudeau inked a two-book deal with publisher Penguin Random House earlier this year, a “wellness book” for adults titled Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other, as well as a picture book aimed at children.
— With files from Mercedes Stephenson and the Canadian Press.