Alexandre Trudeau
Alexandre Emmanuel "Sacha" Trudeau (born December 25, 1973) is a Canadian filmmaker, journalist and author of Barbarian Lost.[1] He is the second son of Canada's former prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, and Margaret Trudeau, and the younger brother of Canada's current prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Alexandre Trudeau
Early life and education[edit]
Alexandre is the younger one of the two Christmas babies of Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau, exactly two years younger than Justin Trudeau. The family was attending the 1973 Christmas midnight mass at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church when Margaret Trudeau went into labour and was rushed to The Ottawa Hospital.[2] His mother struggled with severe postpartum depression after his birth, and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[3] He was given the nickname "Sacha" (the French spelling of the Russian diminutive for Alexander) in recognition of his father's love of Russian literature and culture; the name also is linked to former ambassador of the USSR to Canada and Trudeau family friend Alexander Yakovlev.[4] Alexandre Trudeau's younger brother, Michel, was born in 1975.[5] All three of Pierre and Margaret Trudeau's children became media sensations from birth.
When talking about her sons each having distinctly different personalities, in an interview in 1977, Margaret Trudeau said, "Justin, 6, is a prince – a very good little boy. Sacha, born Christmas Day, 1973, is a bit of a revolutionary, very determined and strong willed. Miche (Michel) is a happy, well-adjusted child, who combined the best traits of both brothers."[6]
His parents announced they would separate in 1977. His mother, unbeknownst to the public, then lived in an attic suite within the Prime Minister's official residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa for the next three years, so as to make the adjustment easier on the children. After the divorce was finalized on April 2, 1984, he and his brothers attended the civil ceremony in which Margaret Trudeau remarried to Ottawa real estate developer Fried Kemper on April 18, 1984. A half-brother, Kyle Kemper (born 1984), and a half-sister, Alicia Kemper (born 1988), soon followed.[3] Pierre and Margaret Trudeau tried as much as possible to protect their children from the public eye, and following Pierre Trudeau's retirement as Prime Minister in 1984, he raised them in relative privacy in Montreal. Alexandre Trudeau gained another half-sister, Sarah Coyne (born 1991), from his father's relationship with Canadian politician Deborah Coyne.[7]
Like his father and brothers, Alexandre Trudeau studied at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf.[8] He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy and a Masters in architecture from McGill University.[9] While attending McGill, he joined the Canadian Forces as a Reserve Entry Scheme Officer with Royal Canadian Hussars reserve regiment in 1996.[1] He trained at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but released voluntarily before completing his training as an armoured officer. Following graduation, he traveled to West Africa to produce his first documentary: Liberia, the Secret War (1998).[10] In the same year in which the documentary was made, his brother Michel died in an avalanche that pushed him into British Columbia's Kokanee Lake, where he drowned.[11]
When Pierre Trudeau died in 2000, both his surviving sons returned to the public eye. Although Alexandre Trudeau was visibly more reserved and quieter than his brother, his heightened public profile brought new attention[12] to his work as a journalist. After Pierre Trudeau's death, Alexandre continued to live in his father's Art Deco home (Cormier House) in Montreal.[13]
Public life[edit]
Currently, Trudeau is President and Chief Producer at Same Adventure Productions. He and wife Zoë Bedos are the parents of a son, Pierre-Emmanuel, and two daughters, Gala Simone and Ariane Lea.[22][23] He is a founding member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation for excellence in social sciences and humanities research and innovation.[24]