OTTAWA -- Margaret Kemper, the colorful and often outspoken ex-wife of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was charged Thursday with possession of marijuana.
Kemper's lawyer, Michael Edelson, said his client was charged by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after a search of her Ottawa residence last Friday.
'They seized a package that had been forwarded to her by unknown persons in British Columbia,' Edelson said.
Provincial court documents indicated the RCMP in British Columbia was tipped that a pound of marijuana was to be mailed to Kemper's Ottawa home.
Edelson said Kemper, who has since remarried, would plead innocent to the charge when she appears in court April 12. Conviction on the possession charge carries a maximum fine of $780 and a jail sentence of up to six months.
'She wants to get the matter into the court as soon as possible to demonstrate (the charge) is unfounded,' he said.
Kemper was only 22 when she captured headlines with her 1971 fairy-tale marriage to the 51-year-old prime minister. But soon their relationship moved from the society page to gossip columns and scandal tabloids.
Rumors linking her with Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger were followed by announcements she and Trudeau had separated in 1977. On Nov. 16, 1983, she filed for divorce.
Soon after, Kemper became part of the New York jet set, seen in the company of luminaries such as Princess Yasmin Kahn and ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov. She was often seen dancing the night away at New York's famed Studio 54.
Kemper has spoken in favor of legalizing marijuana.
'I support decriminalization of marijuana because, while it may be a bad habit, it certainly doesn't deserve such harsh legal consequences for its use,'she said.
Kemper also said 'marijuana is a good high,' but warned that 'abuse of the drug is counterproductive.'
She was remarried to Ottawa real estate developer Fried Kemper, but it was under the name of Margaret Trudeau, that she published two biographies that soon turned into bestsellers in Canada, detailing the ups and downs of her life as the prime minister's wife, as well as other romantic involvements, including with actors Jack Nicholson and Ryan O'Neal.
