Justin Trudeau ends 18-year-long marriage with Sophie Gregoire, here's how the two first met

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire looked like an ideal couple. Young, energetic, and attractive, they always smiled, held hands and seemed to radiate happiness on their countless public appearances together.

It’s only understandable that the world was stunned by the news that the power duo decided to separate following 'many difficult and meaningful conversations' about the future of their relationship.

Here is what we know about how they met, fell in love and tied the knot, and why they decided to part ways.

Meanwhile, Melania Trump wasn’t too keen on giving her number to her future husband Donald when he asked for it, here is what she did instead.

Also, Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell are still together despite divorce speculations, here is how theybecame a couple 20 years ago.

Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire knew each other as young kids

Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire reportedly shared fun times on a playground when they were still wearing diapers.

Their relationship didn’t stop there as future Canada's First Lady was classmates and close friends with Trudeau’s younger brother Michel who tragically died in an avalanche in 1998, at age 23.

The pair spent a lot of time together as they were growing up, ‘hanging out’, swimming in a pool and swinging on a trapeze.

Gregoire told in one of the interviews:

They had a really cool pool with a trapeze and ropes and we could play Tarzan for hours. We would hide in the closet to have our first kiss.

The two of them weren't in touch during their college and early career days but the chance brought them back together after they happened to co-host the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ball as adults in 2003.

Although they reportedly 'felt a connection', Trudeau didn’t make a move on Gregoire after the event as he wasn’t planning on having a serious relationship at that time.

It was not until another chance meeting on a street months later that they both finally clicked.

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Justin Trudeau proved to be a 'hopeless romantic'

According to Gregoire, she turned down Trudeau’s first dinner invite after their second chance meeting as she felt ignored after the ball they co-hosted and held a bit of a grudge.

It took the future PM some persistence to finally get her to go out with him.

But as the two had a fabulous night eating at the Afghan restaurant and singing in karaoke bar, one date was enough for Trudeau to understand that Gregoire was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life together with.

Trudeau said:

I looked at her, and I just felt this strength and peace come over me. I said, ‘Well, it’s about time you arrived. It’s been 32 years and I was beginning to think you would never show up. I’ve been waiting for you all my life. You’re it.’

The feeling was mutual, and he proposed to Gregoire ‘standing on one knee’ in a royal suite of the lavish Hotel Le St-James a year later.

Gregoire described the moment:

He really went out of his way. There were candles and rose petals everywhere. I felt like I was a princess.

The couple tied the knot in an wedding fit for a prince and princess in Sainte-Madeleine d’Outremont church in 2005.

Gregoire wore a custom-made dress from an upscale fashion boutique, and instead of having a wedding cake, they opted for an enormous table filled with decadent desserts.

The couple went on to have three children together - two sons named Xavier James and Hadrien Gregoire, born in 2007 and 2014, and a daughter named Ella-Grace Margaret, born in 2009.

The pressure of high politics took its toll on Justin Trudeau's love life

High-flying political career always takes its toll on privacy and personal freedom, and Gregoire admitted to struggling to adjust to life in the spotlight.

Having to move into Rideau Hall - the official government grounds - after Trudeau became Canada’s second youngest PM in 2014 and making it feel like home also felt like a challenge for the mother-of-three.

She admitted:

I always remember that when tough times do come that we keep a sense of safety in the house from all fronts and that our kids, whatever room we find ourselves in, feel that there’s actually space to discuss real things.

The container is historical, but the content is human. It’s us. Sometimes when people say ‘it’s so unique’ - yes of course - but we’re just a family, and we’re just trying to live our lives.

Although the power duo always looked loved-up and never stopped gushing over one another on social media, they weren’t pretending their relationship was problem-less.

Gregoire once 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.

The joint statement announcing their breakup came as a shock to the world but the couple vowed to 'remain a close family with deep love and respect for one another’.

Divorce while in office seems to run in the Trudeau family.

His father Pierre Trudeau, who was Canadian Prime Minister between 1968 and 1984, divorced his wife Margaret Sinclair, Justin’s mother, while still in his top role.

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Sources used:

- Daily Mail: 'Inside Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire's decades-long romance'