Margaret Trudeau talks candidly about her life and the importance of mental health
By: Liz Dadson
May 20, 2018
At the age of 22, Margaret (Sinclair) Trudeau (above) was married to the prime minister of Canada.
For years, she struggled with this very public life as the wife of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, as well as raising her children, and dealing with undiagnosed mental illness.
Now, an advocate for mental health, she was in Kincardine, May 9, at the invitation of Bruce Power to join in marking Mental Health Awareness Week and the Break the Silence social media campaign which was held May 11.
About 100 people were on hand to hear the 69-year-old Trudeau candidly talk about her life, growing up in the 1960s, smoking marijuana and doing drugs, marrying the prime minister, becoming a mother, and finally, years later, finding out she had bipolar disorder and required medication to control it.
“When I was growing up, my parents said there was something different about me,” she said. “At times, my mind would be racing. Marijuana helped with that, it slowed my racing mind. It's a very human thing – to try and fix ourselves. That's why those with mental illness often end up dealing with substance abuse. They self-medicate which leads to drug addiction.”
Trudeau recalled meeting Pierre, who was the same age as her mother. “We were at the beach. He was this old guy, but he had great legs. He was reading 'The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire' on the beach. I got to know him and enjoyed spending time with him.”
They were married in 1971 and she moved into 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa.
ILL-PREPARED FOR PUBLIC LIFE
“I was so ill-prepared,” said Trudeau.”We had all these maids, and we lived in this cold, drafty, Victorian house. The first year, I became pregnant with Justin and I was so happy with my life.”
She admitted those were the best years when she was raising her three sons. The rest of the time, she was lonely and isolated, away from her support system, with no real role as the prime minister's wife.
At this time, she was also struggling with manic-depression or what is now termed “bipolar disorder.”
“The problem was with my brain,” said Trudeau. “What I needed was medication to help control my brain so I didn't have these incredible highs (manic episodes) and these terrible lows (depression).”
She began taking lithium but it made her shaky. She divorced Pierre, remarried and had two more children. After the birth of her fifth child, a girl, she was really struggling.
“I thought I was doing okay,” she recalled, “but then I had to go to a psyche ward for two-and-a-half months because I was taking Prozac and it shot me into mania.”
When her son, Michel, died in 1998, she didn't want to live. Two years later, at Pierre's funeral, she was almost overwhelmed by depression.
“I remember United States president Jimmy Carter turned to me and told me to be strong,” said Trudeau.
Finally, after years of struggling with mental illness, she went to a doctor who told her that he could not save her, she had to find the strength to fight for her life; otherwise, what she was doing was trying to commit suicide.
“That made me angry,” said Trudeau. “How awful it is to have untreated mental illness. Nobody can fix you. You have to want it. You have to comply with the medication and all the side effects. And, most importantly, you have to get rid of the shame and self-loathing.
“It took three years of intense therapy to change my mind. I got my sense of humour back, I took up gardening and I have eight wonderful grandchildren. It changed my life.”
Trudeau said that employers are now taking steps to recognize mental illness in the workplace, and to support those who need help.
“Be kind,” she said. “Have the conversation, talk about things, and help people out. Mental illness affects everything, and it's important to get someone to listen to you.”
Trudeau then spent the rest of the evening talking to people and autographing copies of her book, “Changing My Mind.”
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