Sophie Grégoire Trudeau says she 'learned to cut ties' after split with PM Justin Trudeau: Everything she's said about relationships since their break up

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is getting candid about relationships, sharing more insight about how she learned to "cut ties" after her split with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The 49-year-old author spoke to The Telegraph recently, noting mental health techniques helped with her break up last year.

"I've trained my brain to deal with uncertainty," she told the British outlet in an article published last Saturday. "I learned to cut ties and not cling too much to life, to others, to relationships."

She and Trudeau announced in August 2023 they "made the decision to separate," according to a post the Liberal Party leader made on Instagram. Over the course of 18 years of marriage, the couple welcomed kids Xavier James, 17, Ella-Grace, 15 and Hadrien, 10.

Since then, Grégoire Trudeau has been open about her relationship, speaking on everything from its post-split parenting mechanics to her struggles. Below, read everything she's said about relationships since becoming estranged from Canada's leader.

Asked people to respect family's privacy post-split

In August 2023, the couple made separate social media posts that included identical words, asking for people to respect the family's privacy amid the break up. While Trudeau's post is still viewable on Instagram, Grégoire Trudeau has since deleted hers.

"As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build," they both wrote in their messages, according to CBC News. "For the well-being of our children, we ask that you respect our and their privacy."

Imagined the 'worst-case scenario' about her split

Elle Canada published a feature on Grégoire Trudeau earlier in March, where she spoke candidly about the decision to publicly announce their separation. She noted making the decision to split up was "hard" and made her think a lot about relationships and being vulnerable.

"I imagined the worst-case scenario, I'll tell you that," she said. "I had to. I didn't want to be naive. But I also had to protect myself. ... Let's just say that we [all] stayed away from our phones. We were together as a family, [and] we held each other."

She further explained she's a "family woman" and didn't want to break the "mould" she had. "Even the words we use to describe relationships — it's either success [and you] stay together or failure [and you] go on different path. We really need to develop a new vocabulary for human beings as we transform on our own paths."

The Montreal-native added navigating her public break-up has been confusing and filled with conflicting emotions: "Are there days when I ask myself, 'What have I done?' Yes. Deep inside, do I feel integrity and congruence? Yes. So I sit with all of it. And it's chaotic, and it's a mess, but it's also loving, compassionate and tender.

"That doesn't mean it hurts less, but you take things less personally because you understand human functioning better," she said, adding that she and Justin Trudeau still share laughs together. "And we will for a very long time."

Urged that women 'shouldn't expect the minimum'

Months after her split, Grégoire Trudeau made a comment that some media outlets saw as a "veiled swipe" at the Canadian prime minister. "Your needs, you shouldn't expect the minimum," she told the Know Your Value podcast in March. "You should expect a maximum of nourishment, presence and help in your life with the people around you. And we shouldn't have to hold it all together as women."

During her appearance on the podcast, she also opened up about romance: "Human wounds, pain, suffering, is universal. The language of love is slow, and love not just in the romantic sense of the word."

Revealed she and Trudeau don't have a 'parental sharing plan'

Later that same month speaking to Vogue, Grégoire Trudeau opened up about how she co-parents with her estranged husband. "We don't even have a parental sharing plan. We go along with the kids' schedules, and we keep each other posted."

The interview painted Grégoire Trudeau as warm, fun-loving and emotional, and while she puts on a brave face publicly, she noted there are still struggles: "I think it hurts me for the kids," she said, adding she had worried about the "emotional heritage" she might be passing down to them.

But moving forward, she noted her mission was to help the children transition to their new family structure: "You can heal without hatred, without division, without blame. I'm not perfect. It takes two to tango, and I think we both acknowledge that."

Noted her and Trudeau are 'still bound by love'

Ahead of the April 23 release of her book, Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other, Grégoire Trudeau sat down with Yahoo Canada for an emotional conversation. She spoke about mental health, her upbringing and her hunger for perfection — and reflected on healing from her break up.

"I have never been more attuned and caring of my mental health than through this whole process," she explained. "I have been pushed to dig into my authenticity and to put my attachment issues aside. But just because you restructure a relationship, it doesn't mean you have to kill it. We are still bound by love."

Still, she admitted during the interview — with tears welling in her eyes — that her break up with Trudeau "hurts" — but that she's OK with the uncertainty of a new decade of her life: "When you have love and respect for real, you learn that at some point, you have to set them free. But it's hard. It's hard. But still full of love."

Shared that family life 'sometimes...gets messy'

Speaking to CBC's The Current, Grégoire Trudeau noted family life after a split isn't, of course, always perfect. The mom-of-three also noted that although there are bound to be people trying to "sniff out the gossip" there's "not much to sniff out" about her split with the Canadian prime minister.

"I'm in a family and I'm raising my kids, and I've had, you know, a partner where sincerity, open conversations, difficult conversations, are at the core of who we are as a family," she explained. "I feel that this space of calm inside me, most people sense it. And the ones who don't, well, it's OK. I can't control that."

While the separation had proven to be a learning curve for the family, Grégoire Trudeau shared they were bound by "respect and love," and they still were there for one another: "Sometimes it gets messy, you know, in all family life. And it should be, because it kind of makes us appreciate the better times."

Called out 'success is marriage and divorce is failure' model

In multiple interviews, Grégoire Trudeau noted people often dramatize the end of relationships — but that shouldn't always be the case. Speaking to outlets like Chatelaine and the Next Question with Katie Couric podcast, she said marriage and divorce aren't as black and white as success and failure.

"We dramatize the ending of relationships instead of accepting that we can free the people we love if it becomes necessary," she told Chatelaine. "We can restructure relationships without losing the other, without being abandoned. ... But we were never taught this. We were taught the opposite! So it's time that we wake up and start sharing this knowledge, so we can continue to not be afraid of loving. I want to be part of the solution."

She later said on the Next Question podcast people may dramatize the end of relationships because of insecurity: "We are afraid to be abandoned, we are afraid to be alone as human beings. It is not in our nature to be alone and just living alone."

Opened up about being on 'different paths' and 'codependency'

Speaking to the Toronto Star while promoting her then-upcoming book, Grégoire Trudeau opened up a bit about emotional attachment in relationships. She also shared how people in relationships can't always expect their significant other to be on the same as them throughout the entirety of their life.

"We have to accept that people have growth curves on different paths," she said. "You cannot always expect the person that you’re sharing your life with to be at the same point of experience that you are. Sometimes we have this concept of possession of the other when we are in a couple and we become jealous or we become controlling."

She added she hopes people entering relationships can feel more secure and work on being more literate both emotionally and relationally. In turn that should help with feeling "much less threatened by the difference of the other."

"Sometimes in relationships, when there is love and this spills outside of romantic love, we must set each other free sometimes. ... Compassion and empathy are very difficult when we are fearful and angry," she said.

Refuted living 'life with the cameras on'

In May, Grégoire Trudeau opened up further about being partnered with a political figure, telling Newsweek she "never perceived her marriage as political." Still, she added it wasn't always easy being one-half of such a public relationship.

"Of course, I wish I didn't have to share the state of my relationship with the world," she said. "It is my life, but it is a very small portion of my life. I don't live my life with the cameras on. I'm at home with the kids. We're running around, we're booking appointments. ... I now understand that being on a co-political path, and your partner does that, it implies a lot of changes in one's life that you don't expect. And you have to constantly adapt."

Chose 'authenticity over attachments' in her relationship

Chatting with Lisa LaFlamme at a fundraiser for YW Kitchener-Waterloo in May, Grégoire Trudeau was able to skirt past most of the former CTV National News anchor's questions about her post-split personal life. Still, Grégoire Trudeau reiterated some of her past sentiments, saying that clinging to a belief that your relationship won't change is a "fairy tale."

"We've been brought up wanting to attach, and to make everything eternal — our youth, our love, our desire. That is not how life is. It is not," she said, adding she was the one to instigate change in the marriage and that she chose "authenticity over attachments" in that moment.

Admitted her split from Trudeau still 'hurts so much'

During a virtual wellness summit called "Bouncing Back From a Broken Heart" on Nov. 1, Grégoire Trudeau opened up about how her split from the Canadian prime minister still impacts her more than a year later. She also revealed she experienced chronic stress amid threats to Trudeau and her family.

"There's still so much love and relationship and closeness in our family," she said during her panel, according to the National Post. "Even though our relationship is transforming, it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. ... It hurts so much. Why? Because I had to choose my authenticity over my attachment, and that can be called 'heartbreak,' although the heart never breaks."

After being asked how she dealt with the breakup, Grégoire Trudeau said her yoga mat has seen it all and the exercise helps her "clear the debris" from her mind: "That mat, let me tell you, has seen tears of sweat, of confusion, of alert, of sadness, of grief, of trying to let go, of not understanding what's going on and of navigating life through a thick fog."

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