Sophie Trudeau was the Canadian First Lady. She and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian President, ended their 18-year marriage in August 2023. In a recent interview with The Times, the mum-of-three talked about her split from her ex-husband.
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She revealed the two of them are still in touch and happily co-parent their three children, Xavier, 16, Ella-Grace, 15, and Hadrien, 10. In the same interview, Sophie Trudeau was asked about her friendship with Meghan Markle, who has previously described the former Canadian First Lady as a ‘dear friend’.
In the interview, however, Sophie revealed that she and Meghan haven’t seen much of each other. As we look at Ms Trudeau’s interview, and also her friendship with the Duchess of Sussex.
Sophie Trudeau talks about Meghan Markle in interview
In a recent interview with The Times, Sophie Trudeau was asked about her friendship with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. As per Daily Mail, Sophie was ‘reserved’ when asked about Meghan and revealed that the two of them hadn’t spent much time together but she does ‘know her’.
I know her... but we haven't spent much time together.
As per Daily Mail, Meghan had invited Sophie to be on her podcast Archetypes in November 2022 for the episode Good Wife/Bad Wife, Good Mom/Bad Mom. During the episode, Meghan revealed she had thrown a pool party for Sophie and the two were ‘giddy like schoolgirls’ while drinking wine on the terrace.
Meghan introduced Ms Trudeau as a ‘humanitarian mother’, she had met while she was living in Toronto, filming Suits. As per Daily Mail, the two had met at Toronto’s Fashion Week seven years ago.
During the podcast, Meghan described Sophie as a ‘dear friend’ and someone she thinks is an ‘emblematic of strength’.
Sophie has become a dear friend and someone who I think is so emblematic of strength that comes from embracing your humanity
Meghan Markle and Sophie Trudeau became friends in 2016
According to Omid Scobie’s book about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Finding Freedom, Sophie and Meghan became ‘friendly’ in 2016 after Meghan had met Sophie’s ex-husband, Justin Trudeau, at the One Young World summit in Ottawa that year.
As per Daily Mail, later that same year, Sophie and Meghan were posing in a photo booth together at the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards (CAFA) at the exclusive Soho House in London. In his book, Omid claimed the two had become friends as they had similar backgrounds.
Indeed, Sophie Trudeau had also given up a TV career to become Canada’s First Lady. As reported by Daily Mail, Sophie had previously been working as a correspondent on CTV's eTalk, while Meghan Markle had been an actress.
Omid Scobie wrote in his book:
The pair became fast email friends, Meghan was interested to hear how Sophie had successfully made the move from an entertainment news correspondent to much-beloved First Lady, all while skillfully dodging controversy.
During an episode on her podcast, Meghan Markle revealed that Sophie had supported her through her pregnancy by sending her ‘little meditations during my pregnancy’ as well as ‘voice notes of encouragement’ as per Daily Mail. Meghan also added that she has gone to Sophie for advice over the years:
I've gone to her over the years for advice.
One reason why Meghan Markle and Sophie Trudeau aren’t as close
It is unclear why Meghan Markle and Sophie Trudeau aren’t very close anymore, but as per Daily Mail, one of the reasons could be due to the falling out between Meghan and their mutual friend Jessica Mulroney.
According to The Telegraph, Meghan and Sophie met through a mutual friend, Jessica Mulroney, who was Ms Trudeau’s stylist. It is believed that Jessica, who was one of Meghan’s best friends had played an ‘influential’ role in Meghan and Prince Harry stepping down as working Royals and leaving the UK.
However, Jessica and Meghan reportedly had a falling out due to a race row following the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Mulroney was accused of trying to threaten influencer Sasha Exeter and as a result her occasional role as a fashion contributor on Good Morning America had been cancelled, as well as her TV show I Do Redo.
Since the alleged falling out, Jessica hasn’t commented on her dwindling friendship with Meghan Markle. However, the two haven’t been seen together in quite some time and Jessica didn't appear in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix documentary, which featured interviews from friends.
Meghan Markle’s pool party for Sophie Trudeau
As mentioned before, Meghan Markle revealed on her podcast in 2022 that she had thrown a pool party for her ‘dear friend’ Sophie Trudeau. It is unclear when the pool party took place as Meghan doesn’t mention a date.
During the podcast, Meghan admitted that the pool party had been a day for both her and Sophie to not just be ‘wives and moms’:
This wasn't our day of being the wives and moms, all perfectly quaffed with up-dos and pearls and demure smiles.
Meghan went on to add that both of them hadn’t worried about looks and had ‘wild curly hair’ and ‘loose linen’. She explained that she and Sophie had enjoyed 'huge belly laughs’ and had ‘girl talk’ while on the terrace:
This was the other version of us both with wild curly hair and swimsuits and loose linen and huge belly laughs. Big cuddles with our little ones, quiet whispers of girl talk on the terrace, giddy like absolute schoolgirls. We were just having so much fun.
It is unclear whether or not this was one of the last times Meghan and Sophie hung out together, as it was at least 2 years ago, and in her recent interview, Sophie admitted the two hadn’t spent much time together.
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Sources used:
Daily Mail: ‘Sophie Trudeau on shock split from Canadian PM in new memoir: From eating disorder struggles as a teen to VERY personal anecdotes about now-ex-husband’
The Times: ‘Sophie Grégoire Trudeau: My life after Justin’
The Telegraph: ‘Duchess of Sussex’s ‘dear friend’ Sophie Trudeau says they have not spent much time together’
Daily Mail: ‘Sophie Trudeau gives Meghan the cold shoulder: Ex-First Lady says she 'knows' Duchess but claims they haven't spent much time together - after Meghan described her as a 'dear friend' who sent her 'meditations' and voice notes during her pregnancy’
