The 50-year-old author and mental health advocate opened up about menopause, losing her father and more. (Image via Getty Images/Yahoo Canada Illustration)
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau has a presence that’s hard to define. The author and mental health advocate has an otherworldly poise about her that could be intimidating, but instead it creates an invisible haven to open up and be vulnerable. Her hair is free and wild and she speaks at a rapid-fire rate — but there is no small talk with Grégoire Trudeau. Everything is an opportunity to learn — and to grow.
Life has changed quite a bit for the former TV broadcaster. After separating from her husband of 18 years, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2023, the mother-of-three was hard at work on her first book, Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other. The best-selling debut was a culmination of her life’s learnings so far, with anecdotes about her life and upbringing interwoven with lessons from people she admires, like trauma expert Gabor Maté and family therapist Terrence Real. It was an offering to the world; an act of service to bring others along on the never-ending journey towards authenticity, understanding and ultimately healing.
Yahoo Canada recently spoke to Grégoire Trudeau about menopause, grief and navigating life in the public eye.
Follow your arrow
Although she was no longer the “unofficial” First Lady of Canada, Grégoire Trudeau continues her work raising mental health awareness and living well through her own platform online. At 50, she’s exploring topics that resonate with many of her follows: purpose, heartbreak and, yes, menopause.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau spoke to Yahoo Canada about life, loss and more. (Image courtesy of Sophie Grégoire Trudeau)
“I look at 50-year-old women around me and I feel like we’re at such inflection points in our lives. How we perceive our bodies, our minds, our families and how we contribute to the world…,” she said. “Menopause is what I would like to call a mature stage of life where you have decisions to make that either follow your authentic self or go against it. And I know for a fact as a woman that when you go against it, you’re the one who suffers in the end.”
Like with many areas of her life, Grégoire Trudeau views this stage of life with a holistic approach, blending science-based facts about hormones and lesser known symptoms along with “how it can affect relationships and even our mothering.”
Unfiltered conversations with the names you know: Unapologetically is a Yahoo Life series in which people get the chance to share how they live their best life — out loud and in colour.
‘The only health that I have is mine’
While the public conversation around menopause is changing, Grégoire Trudeau recognizes that it takes “a load of courage” for people to be vulnerable. She’s often the first one to wade into the waters of a “taboo” topic, with other women following suit.
“I’m in perimenopause right now, but falling into menopause,” she said. “People think ‘I still have my menstrual cycle, so I’m not in perimenopause.’ Wrong. It can be sleep disturbances, anxious thoughts, tachycardia, burning mouth sensation… .There’s a lot of different symptoms in different women and we can’t judge each other for what we’re going through… .”
Grégoire Trudeau published her first book, Closer Together, in 2024. (Image via Getty Images)
But aside from conversation there’s action — which includes having access to doctor who can provide accurate hormone assessments and “intervene” in appropriate doses.
“Right now it’s pretty much, ‘Try this and see how you feel.’ So I’m going through this — with progesterone and estrogen and natural supplements,” she said. “I’m being very mindful of what I’m reading, what I’m taking in, because I want to make the right decisions because it’s the only body that I have. It’s the only health that I have is mine. I hope that women are supported as well on their own journey because you shouldn’t have to feel alone in all of this and not know how to be guided properly.”
‘I’m letting go of the sadness’
Grégoire Trudeau’s quest to understand herself and connect with others isn’t new.
“I was a curious child. I was an affectionate child. I was an only child, so in order to feel seen and loved,” she explained while wiping away tears. The topic of childhood and family is heavy with emotion as she recently marked the first anniversary of her father, Jean Grégoire’s death. “I had loving parents, but there was addiction on both sides of my family in different ways. It was intergenerational.”
The loss of a parent has opened up a new realm of grief for Grégoire Trudeau to seek to understand and learn to carry with her.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.
“I’m not going to try to hide my sadness through grief. In grief there are so many different sections — denial, anger, despair, sadness and acceptance. I’m letting go of the sadness. There’s lots of tears rolling,” she said. “I tell my kids, ‘I’m sad today. I miss my Dad.’ And then I go inside myself.
“In a way I’ve never felt closer to him,” she continued. “You get to a profound realm because what’s not tangible or seeable sometimes is more potent… It reminds us of our own mortality. Life is short, but it’s wide. You decide what you want to do with your precious time. We have to make that choice.”
The sacred self
Although there’s an openness to Grégoire Trudeau in her willingness to share about her life, there’s a firm boundary when those experiences involve others — particularly Trudeau and their three children. There are some things that aren’t hers to share —and not for the public to know. But her desire to protect her personal life does little to quell media interest and social media discourse about her family.
“When stuff happens in my life, my body will react. I’m a human being. I will like it [or] I will dislike it. I’ll want to cry, scream or whatever — I let that out. Those emotions arise very quickly. The body gives you all the cues to what’s happening. I let it out…,” she said. “There’s what’s said in the media and then there’s my life.”
Grégoire Trudeau and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced their separation in 2023. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
But what’s said about her life online doesn’t reflect her experience when she meets people in real life. She becomes teary-eyed when she thinks of her time on the “co-political path” and travelling around the country to meet Canadians.
“Everywhere I went, I was very lucky. I got love,” she said.
While the outside noise may have intensified in recent years, Grégoire Trudeau has done her best to maintain a healthy distinction between the public aspect of her life and the wholeness of her identity.
“If I decide to let that define me, I lose myself,” she said. “This is true for me or for every human being on the planet. If you let the outside world define you, you won’t have the sacredness of knowing who you are…I also see others behaviours in a different light and I try to have compassion.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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