Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is moving on. The mom-of-three, who separated from former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2023, is officially leaving Canada’s capital and returning to her home province.
The 51-year-old former TV host took to her monthly newsletter to share the update on Friday, which she titled “Beginning Again.” In her email, the mental health advocate included photos of herself packing up her belongings, wrote about entering her next chapter of life and shared how “boxes are everywhere” in her home.
“Some are filled with dishes and books. Others are filled with memories I didn’t realize I was still carrying. This month, my life feels a little upside down,” Grégoire Trudeau, who attended daughter Ella-Grace’s high school graduation in Ottawa earlier this week, penned. “I’m moving from Ottawa back to Montreal, back to the neighbourhood where I grew up. And what I thought would simply be a move has become something much bigger.”
Grégoire Trudeau — who grew up in Sainte-Adèle, Que., until her family moved to Montreal when she was four, according to La Presse — shared that leaving Ottawa is like a “return” or like she’s “letting go” and starting anew.
“There is grief in closing certain chapters. There is hope in opening new ones,” she added. “At 51, rebuilding a chapter of life largely on my own has stretched me in unexpected ways. There are moments of freedom. Moments of loneliness. Moments of deep gratitude.”
She continued to share how self-love is more than a concept, explaining how it’s an ongoing practice.
In her newsletter, Grégoire Trudeau shared photos of herself packing. (Photos via Grégoire Trudeau’s newsletter)
“It’s trusting that no one else can complete you, while remaining open to being deeply loved. I still believe in partnership. I still believe in love. But today, I want it to come from wholeness, not from need,” she shared, noting how she’ll be busy this summer with work, travelling and spending time with her three kids, Xavier, Ella-Grace and Hadrien.
“It will also be a season of slowing down and listening more closely to myself,” she wrote in the end to her update.
Grégoire Trudeau moved to Ottawa in 2010, two years after Justin Trudeau was elected as MP for Papineau in Montreal. The two married on May 28, 2005, and initially lived in Montreal, where Xavier and Ella-Grace were born. Hadrien was born in Ottawa in 2014, a year and a half before Trudeau became prime minister.
On Aug. 2, 2023, the couple announced they were separating after 18 years of marriage. At the time, the Liberals said that Trudeau would continue to live at Rideau Cottage with the children. Grégoire Trudeau had moved into a nearby home in Ottawa and was reportedly set to spend time with the kids at Rideau Cottage when Trudeau was travelling.
Grégoire Trudeau and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau lived in Rideau Cottage in Ottawa for years. After they announced their separation in August 2023, Grégoire Trudeau reportedly moved into a nearby home. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)
(MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images)
Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister on Jan. 6, 2025, and The Globe and Mail reported in March 2025 that he rented a home in Ottawa’s Rockcliffe neighbourhood. This past February, The Montreal Gazette reported that Trudeau purchased a $4.26 million home in Montreal.
Grégoire Trudeau recently took to social media to open up about not attaching herself to “any circumstance in life” and her “life mission” to give back to the world. In a video she shared on June 11 of herself during a break by the water, she explained how she’s lucky to have had privilege in her life despite facing “dark moments and obstacles” over the years.
“Life has taught me not to attach my identity to a role, title, achievement or period in my life,” she wrote in French on her Instagram post. “Moments of gratitude are beautiful, but moments of calm, when no one is watching and you’re far from the ‘spotlights’ of life are just as great. Both should bring us back to ourselves.”
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