Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, and his wife have announced their divorce

The couple says they made the choice after’many profound and tough conversations’ and asks for privacy.

After 18 years of marriage, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, have announced their divorce.

The couple stated on Instagram on Wednesday that they reached the choice after “many meaningful and difficult conversations” and asked for privacy.

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

According to a statement released by the prime minister’s office, the couple has signed a legal separation agreement.

Trudeau, the 51-year-old scion of one of Canada’s most well-known politicians, was sworn in as Prime Minister in 2015. Gregoire Trudeau used to be a model and a television broadcaster. They married in May 2005 and have three children, ages 15, 14, and nine.

According to a source acquainted with the situation, the couple will enjoy shared custody of their children. Trudeau and his family will remain in Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, the prime minister’s official residence, where they have been since 2015.

Gregoire Trudeau will move into separate housing in Ottawa, but aims to spend as much time as possible with the children in Rideau Cottage to ensure they enjoy a normal upbringing, according to the source.

“They remain a close family, and Sophie and the prime minister are focused on raising their kids in a safe, loving, and collaborative environment,” Trudeau’s office said in a statement. “The family will be on vacation starting next week.”

Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire met as youngsters when she was in the same class as his youngest brother, Michel, and again as adults when they co-hosted a charity banquet in 2003.

Two years later, they married.

In its January 2016 issue, Vogue featured a gushing profile of the two, complete with images of them kissing. According to a lengthy profile of Trudeau in the magazine, he “shocks some with his public displays of affection towards his wife.”

Trudeau and Gregoire Trudeau were frequently seen together at social occasions and on foreign visits in the early years after assuming power.

Trudeau, on the other hand, made it apparent even before becoming prime minister that the couple had suffered difficulties, writing in his memoirs Common Ground in 2014 that “our marriage isn’t perfect, and we have had difficult ups and downs.”

Gregoire Trudeau has reduced joint appearances with her husband in recent years, and traces of stress were visible. Last month, the two were photographed together at Canada Day activities in Ottawa.

Last year, on their wedding anniversary, she said on social media, “we have navigated through sunny days, heavy storms, and everything in between, and it ain’t over.”

She said, “Long-term relationships are challenging in so many ways.”

Trudeau is the second prime minister to disclose his divorce while still in office.

His father, Pierre Trudeau, and mother, Margaret Trudeau, divorced in 1984, during the elder Trudeau’s final year as Prime Minister.

SOURCE: NEWSPAPERS