Sophie Grégoire Trudeau’s memoir, Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other, makes it abundantly clear that she has found life’s assignment: to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. Yes, she has been a mental health, emotional literacy, and gender equality advocate for two decades, but this book is writing the next chapter of her life.
Sophie uses her life experiences to lead her to discuss larger issues including mental health, trauma, relationships, and parenting. The almost 300-page, heavyweight book is interspersed – as side bars in a magazine article – with her interviews with world-renowned experts, including Dr. Gabor Maté, an expert on addiction, stress and childhood development; Gordon Neufeld, a developmental psychologist and authority on child development; Liz Plank, a Canadian podcaster specializing in politics, gender issues and reproductive rights; John Grey, an American relationship counselor; and Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General.
She shares her happiness mantra in her Introduction to the book: “We must learn to live with integrity and coherence, staying true to our values and expressing our authentic self. In this way, we can take control over ourselves and our lives. As Dr. Santos says: ‘Getting out of our own way is the first step to happiness!’”
Read on for the second part of the exclusive interview Sophie gave to A Lotus In The Mud.
Parveen Chopra – A Lotus In The Mud:
Your book, ‘Closer Together’, is available in hardbound and will soon be published in paperback. What can readers expect from it?
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau:
I hope it encourages readers to reconnect with themselves and others, fostering deeper, more meaningful connections.
How well is the book doing, and have you received impactful feedback from readers?
Sophie:
Closer Together became a national bestseller in Canada, which is incredible and beyond my expectations. Now, the goal is to share the message with a global audience.
I also spent about 60 hours in the studio narrating the audiobook in French and English. It’s available on Audible, and I’m excited to share that it has become one of the best-performing audiobooks of 2024. But my focus now is to get the message out to even more people and invite them to celebrate it.
The feedback that resonates with me most is that readers say, “I feel so much when I read this book.” They feel close to me, a sense of safety, and they tell me they’ve learned a lot from it. Many have mentioned that they keep returning to the book as a reference, which is beautiful because I didn’t write it for popularity or public recognition. I’ve lived in the public eye long enough to know that that isn’t my goal.
What matters to me is that the work becomes a shared assignment we can all take on together. When people tell me they keep the book by their bedside, in the kitchen, or flip back to chapters on relationships, parenting, love, mindfulness, or yoga, that is exactly what I hoped for. I wanted the book to reflect the fabric of life — how we sleep, eat, love, grow, and care for ourselves. That’s what it means to be in a good mental place, to live in wild wholeness as a human being.
“The question becomes: How can I transform my passion for life into a purpose that serves others? If our qualities only serve ourselves, we’re not living purposefully. Others are waiting for us – our energy, love, and confidence. It’s only by coming closer physically and mentally that we strengthen the fabric of humanity.”
Promoting a book must be hectic. How do you balance your public role with your personal life?
Sophie:
I’ve never seen myself as a public persona or a celebrity, and I don’t live that way internally. So, I don’t need to separate who I am at a public event from me at the grocery store. Whether speaking to a thousand people or chatting with someone while buying groceries, I show up as the same Sophie. That is part of living with heart-mind coherence, not changing to please others but simply being present.
I believe stress comes from a poor relationship with the present moment. We are often too focused on the future, which I am guilty of as well. I’m a mother of three – two teenagers and a 10-year-old, and life is busy. I don’t always get it right. When I catch myself projecting into the future, I pull myself back and remind myself to slow down. I ask, “Why am I trying to resolve something that hasn’t happened?” Then I focus on where I am in the moment. Even in this interview, I try not to think ahead to the next question but stay fully present with you.
Living this way allows me to appreciate small, truthful moments with others that build a well-lived life. What matters most is real conversations, where we are not threatened by each other’s differences but united by our shared love for life and respect for one another.
We know about your estranged husband, Justin Trudeau, who has been Prime Minister of Canada since 2015. Tell us about your children.
Sophie:
I have three children: two teenagers – Ella, who is 16, and Xavier, who is 15. My youngest, Hadrien, is 10, and I still get to cuddle him, which I cherish. I know those moments are fleeting as he approaches his teenage years.
The book shows a photo of me with Xavier, another of me breastfeeding my youngest, and us biking together. These photos are from a couple of years ago. My son is now six-foot-four, and my daughter is taller than me. Letting go is an ongoing learning process, allowing them to grow and spread their wings without holding on too tightly. Detachment is part of the journey, and I try to embrace it.
“Spiritual growth comes from inner work, finding coherence, believing in human goodness, and becoming a full citizen of your aloneness. It involves accepting mortality and resisting the societal pressure to betray ourselves by chasing perfection—changing our faces and bodies or avoiding death and suffering.”
How do you nurture your well-being and support your personal and spiritual growth?
Sophie:
Spiritual growth comes from inner work, finding coherence within, believing in human goodness, and becoming a full citizen of your aloneness. It involves accepting mortality and resisting the societal pressure to betray ourselves by chasing perfection—changing our faces and bodies or avoiding death and suffering.
When we deny these realities, we move further away from authenticity and make ourselves unwell. True well-being lies in acceptance—with it comes gentleness, patience, and clarity. But this is not always easy or pleasant; life requires us to see things as they are, not as we wish.
I often remind myself of my life’s assignment, whether you call it dharma or an inner calling. The question becomes: How can I transform my passion for life into a purpose that serves others? If our qualities only serve ourselves, we’re not living purposefully. Others are waiting for us – our energy, love, and confidence. Only by coming closer, physically and mentally, we strengthen the fabric of humanity.
Buddhists say, “Leap, and the net will appear.” I believe it is also about leaning into life with trust. If we know and regulate ourselves, we find allies along the way, waiting to embrace us. In a way, I think we are trying to re-parent ourselves and our planet. This isn’t about blaming our parents but about recognizing the harm we’ve caused ourselves and the world, learning from it, and being gentler and present moving forward.
Which daily routines or wellness practices do you follow?
Sophie:
Yes, I take good care of myself. I eat well, sleep well, and exercise daily. I also do hot-and-cold immersions like saunas and cold showers, which stimulate mitochondrial resilience, the energy production system of every cell in the body. Building physical and mental resilience is essential to handle life’s challenges.
New experiences help us develop courage and show us what we’re made of, and the same goes for the body. It functions at its best if we care for it through proper nutrition, good sleep, and aligning with natural rhythms. I try to follow the light’s natural cycle, lowering lights in the evening, waking with the sunrise, and watching both the sunrise and sunset. This helps regulate the nervous system and supports energy resilience.
“I’ve never seen myself as a public persona or a celebrity, and I don’t live that way internally. Whether speaking to a thousand people or chatting with someone while buying groceries, I show up as the same Sophie. That is part of living with heart-mind coherence, not changing to please others but simply being present.”
Parveen Chopra:
Our web magazine, A Lotus in the Mud, draws inspiration from the lotus flower, which symbolizes purity and resilience. The idea behind the name is that we are all like the lotus – pure at our core but caught up in the mud of life. Can you give an inspiring message to our readers?
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau:
Yes — No mud, no lotus. No lotus, no mud. The mud serves as a reminder of our life’s assignment. It challenges us to clear the mental fog to bloom as flowers. Just as the lotus expands and contracts, life flows through cycles of growth and retreat. These rhythms are both beautiful and difficult.
If we learn to see poetry in life and embrace the beauty of human love and compassion, we can consciously choose to believe in human goodness. This choice requires regulation and mindfulness. When we are grounded, we can respond to life with clarity and openness, allowing us to evolve as a species.
We are inherently creative beings. We lose touch with the child within us when we stop creating or expressing what we repress. I believe adulthood is about regaining the innocence we lost, an innocence that is not naive, but wise.
When we sit with ourselves and embrace our aloneness without fear, while still staying connected to others, we understand what it means to live fully. Life becomes expansive and spacious, like the lotus with a thousand petals in bloom. This ancient symbol resonates because it mirrors our journey – through mud and bloom, struggle and beauty.
Parveen Chopra:
Beautifully said. Thank you, Sophie, for sharing these insights with us.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau:
Thank you, Parveen. My best to you and everyone reading.
