Advertisement

The choices of Margaret Trudeau

TORONTO -- Margaret Trudeau, estranged wife of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, writes of life 'laced with drugs and sex' and of an affair with actor Jack Nicholson in the latest installment of her memoirs.

In the first of a series of newspaper excerpts published Monday from 'Consequences,' a sequel to her autobiography 'Beyond Reason,' Mrs. Trudeau, 32, called Nicholson 'the first real rival to Pierre.'

Advertisement

She tells of an affair with Nicholson in the summer of 1978 which she said ended because the actor was in love with actress Angelica Huston.

Mrs. Trudeau recounts a 'pleasurable' night of flirting with Nicholson and says they ended up in the back of his chauffeured car. 'I discovered just how much room there is in the back of a Daimler,' she wrote.

On the last night of the affair, which ultimately left her feeling crushed and like a 'fool,' 'we made love all night,' Mrs. Trudeau said. 'I wanted him badly but I didn't need him.'

Mrs. Trudeau said every night for two years before separating from her husband in May 1977, she whispered to herself 'Pierre, please give me a divorce.' She said Trudeau, 29 years her senior, was 'mean about money,' and she finally chose 'independence over marital vows.' She and Trudeau had three boys who now live with the prime minister.

Advertisement

Earlier in 1978 before meeting Nicholson, Mrs. Trudeau spent time jet-setting with rock musician Tom Sullivan, then 23, whose 'extreme youth' attracted her after leaving Bruce Nevins, the French bottled water magnate, in New York.

'As a rock musician he (Sullivan) was offering me a glimpse of another culture, one laced with with drugs and sex,' she wrote. 'There were many times when I would have liked to blame all my mistakes on cocaine.

'I can't in all truth do that. With the coke I took valium. It made me low and depressed ... so that I actually needed the cocaine.'

In her May 1979 autobiography 'Beyond Reason,' Mrs. Trudeau wrote of living as a hippie in Morocco before meeting Trudeau, about her life as Canada's first lady and her marriage breakdown after making headlines befriending the Rolling Stones.

Mrs. Trudeau gained international attention in Sept. 1979 with a Playgirl interview in which she disussed romantic involvements with actor Ryan O'Neal, singer Lou Rawls and a friendship with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy later denied any romantic involvement with Mrs. Trudeau.

Mrs. Trudeau, whho now co-hosts a local television interview program, has been living with Ottawa furniture store owner Jimmy Johnson.

Advertisement

Latest Headlines