Justin Trudeau's Parents Had A Massive Age Gap In Their Marriage

If you take a look at the world of politics, you're bound to notice a number of high-profile couples with significant age gaps. Take, for instance, French President Emmanuel Macron, whose romance with older wife Brigitte began in controversial fashion. But in stark contrast to couples like the Macrons, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn't have much of an age gap with ex-wife Sophie Grégoire at all. In fact, Justin is only about three and a half years older than the mother of his children. The same cannot be said, however, for Justin's own parents.

Justin's father was none other than Pierre Trudeau, who himself served as Prime Minister of Canada in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. His mother, meanwhile, is author, activist, and short-lived actor Margaret Trudeau (née Sinclair). Pierre and Margaret married in March of 1971 – exactly nine months before eldest son Justin was born. The kicker is that when the two tied the knot, Pierre was 51 years old, while Margaret was 22, meaning they had an age gap of 29 years.

Their marriage was not built to last, and Pierre and Margaret officially divorced in 1984 following a lengthy separation. That same year, Margaret married real estate developer Fried Kemper. This couple shared no age gap, as Margaret and Fried were both 35 years old at the time of their nuptials. Even so, they also ended up getting divorced in 1999. Pierre, meanwhile, didn't get married again, and ultimately passed away in the year 2000 at the age of 80.

Prior to his own tenure as Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau wasn't shy about addressing his parents' massive age difference head-on. During a 2009 appearance on CPAC's "Beyond Politics," Justin made it clear that despite their eventual divorce, his parents did care deeply for each other when they were still together. However, he also acknowledged that Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau's age gap was problematic, given the power difference involved, and hinted that this contributed to the rift that ultimately ended their marriage.

"I mean, they loved each other incredibly, passionately, completely. But there was 30 years between them and my mom never was an equal partner in what encompassed my father's life, his duty, his country," Justin said. He added that Margaret "was a partner in the child-rearing stuff and the family stuff but not in [Pierre's] full life." On that note, he also said at the time that he wanted to avoid making that same mistake with then-wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and that he was making a conscious effort to keep her in the loop regarding his political career. He said her presence helped make him a better politician and shared, "Knowing that she knows that is what hopefully is going to make everything a lot easier in terms of the difficult times that, you know, we'll always go through." Ironically, Justin and Sophie eventually went their separate ways in 2023, with Sophie seemingly dropping hints that her husband's busy work schedule is what doomed their marriage.