Justin Trudeau, 51, separates from wife Sophie after 18 years: ‘We have made the decision

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he is separating from his wife Sophie after 18 years. 

The pair announced the split on Instagram today in matching posts written in both English and French. 

His office also released a statement to confirm they had reached a legal agreement. 

‘They 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. 

Canada’s Globe and Mail reports that the pair will share custody of their three children. 

Trudeau will remain at Rideau Cottage with the children, but Sophie has already moved to a different property in Ottawa.  

She will frequent Rideau Cottage to be with the children and will stay there whenever Trudeau is traveling. 

‘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 family will be together on vacation, beginning next week,’ the statement read. 

In his Instagram post, Trudeau, 51, wrote: ‘Hi everyone, 

‘Sophie and I would like to share the fact that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate. 

‘As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and we will continue to build.

‘For the well-being of our children, we ask that you respect our and their privacy.’ 

The pair have been married since 2005 and share three children, the youngest of whom is nine. 

Sophie was a childhood friend and classmate of Trudeau’s older brother Michel, who died in an avalanche in 1998 aged 23.

They began dating in 2003 after reconnecting as adults and were engaged a short time afterwards. 

Sophie is the Canadian Prime Minister’s first wife.

In April, he gushed over his wife in an Instagram post to mark her birthday. 

‘Happy birthday, Sophie. From this, to this, and everything in between, there’s no one I’d rather have by my side… I love you, mon amour,’ he said. 

She returned the affection on June 18 on Father’s Day. 

‘This man could carry the love he has for his kids anywhere. Dads, never underestimate your role as mentors in your family for your sons and your daughters. 

‘Be kind to yourselves, check on your mental well-being, slow down in silence when needed… and most of all, take the risk of loving with everything you got,’ she wrote. 

Last year, in another romantic post to commemorate their 17th wedding anniversary, Sophie wrote: ‘Together for 19 years, married for 17, we have navigated through sunny days, heavy storms, and everything in between and it ain’t over. 

‘You all know I keep things honest: long-term relationships are challenging in so many ways. 

‘They demand constant work, flexibility, compromise, sacrifice, devotion, patience, effort, and so much more.

‘None of us are perfect and so there is no perfect relationship, but love is only true when it keeps you safe, sets you free, and makes you grow. Omnia Vincit Amor.’

She did not post anything about their marriage this year which fell on the day of Tina Turner’s death. Instead, she paid tribute to the late singer. 

Their separation is the first of any sitting Canadian prime minister since his own parents’ separation in 1977. 

Their marriage and split fueled rampant rumor and speculation, among the most salacious of which was whether Trudeau was the lovechild of Cuban leader Fidel Castro – an unfounded claim that his office was forced to deny in 2018. 

In his memoir, he talked of the anguish of having divorced parents, which he said left him with ‘a sense of diminished self worth.’ 

After his parents announced their separation, his mother Margaret was spotted at Studio 54 regularly and with an array of famous boyfriends. 

In her 1982 memoir Consequences, Margaret revealed that she had affairs with actors Jack Nicholson and Ryan O’Neal and singer Lou Rawls. 

She also partied with The Rolling Stones and was rumored to have hooked up with frontman Mick Jagger, who recalled to the Evening Standard that Margaret was a ‘very sick girl in search of something.’ 

‘She found it – but not with me. I wouldn’t go near her with a barge pole,’ he said.