Justin Trudeau
The surprising end of a Hollywood-ready love
Split up: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie.
© imago images/ZUMA Press
The marriage of Justin Trudeau and his Sophie caused worldwide sympathy, as they are connected by a Hollywood-ready love story.
When politician couples separate, it rarely causes worldwide consternation. Unlike Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau (51) and his wife Sophie (48). Both announced their separation after 18 years of marriage on Wednesday (August 2). What makes the collective shock about the marriage so great: In public, both seemed harmonious and familiar until the end. And: Both are linked by an almost unbelievable, almost Hollywood-ready love story.
Separation after “many deep and difficult discussions”
“After many in-depth and difficult discussions” about a possible future of their relationship, they decided together to go their separate ways. the message via Trudeau’s Instagram channell follow commitments to continue to be there for each other and for their three children. Both also ask that their privacy be treated with respect.
So far, so normal. What makes the fact of the separation extraordinarily tragic is that both met in childhood and for many was symbolic proof that love can last a lifetime. But the supposed fairy tale now seems to have given in to reality.
Love story straight out of a Hollywood script
As children, they both go to the same school in Montreal. Justin, who is a good three years older than his future wife Sophie, has a younger brother. Michel, who is later to die in an avalanche shortly before his 23rd birthday, was in the same class as Sophie, who was the same age and both were born in 1975. They become friends and this is how Sophie and Justin meet for the first time.
A friendship develops between the two, maybe even more. There is talk of a furtive teenage kiss in a closet in his parents’ apartment. But life separates the two for the time being: his father Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister almost continuously from 1968 to 1984, divorces Justin’s mother. Justin and his brothers move in with their father. He and Sophie lose touch.
In 2003 fate brought the two together again. Coincidentally, he, then an engineering student, and she, on the way to becoming a successful TV presenter, host the same gala. Justin is immediately enthusiastic, but Sophie ignores his date requests until they bump into each other on the street in 2004. The first official date finally follows. And Justin announces after the first few hours together that they “will spend the rest of their lives together.”
In 2005 the marriage proposal followed and on May 28, 2005 the wedding, which many described as magical. In the years that followed, both made steep careers in politics and the media. In 2007, 2009 and 2014 Sophie also gave birth to two sons and a daughter. After Justin’s election as Prime Minister in 2014, they move to Ottawa. Sophie gives up her job for the family. As a result, they are considered one of the most famous and popular couples in the world – beyond all political boundaries. They left the impression that both are pulling together and want to fulfill Justin’s prophecy of eternal happiness together. The dismay that this great, fairytale-like story is said to have lost its magic is all the greater.