Back in the Spotlight: Decoding the Katy Perry and Former Prime Minister Romance

Considering his father was involved with the iconic singer and his mom partied with the legendary rock band, it might not be a surprise to see ex- Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau romantically linked with American singer Katy Perry.

But it nonetheless causes surprise. “This was DEFINITELY NOT on my 2025 bingo card,” commented an media outlet in July, when the pair were first seen together in Montreal. A well-known magazine later labeled them “2025’s most surprising couple.”

Over the weekend, Trudeau, 53, and Perry were seen leaving a cabaret club in Paris on Perry’s 41st birthday. They were walking hand-in-hand. Neither has made a statement, but the image is interpreted as the couple acknowledging they are in fact an item.

They join a strikingly short list of public relationships between leaders and musicians, which includes Justin’s father, Pierre, and Streisand, as well as a past politician with a pop star.

Leader-actor relationships and marriages are frequent: examples include Rita Hayworth and a then-UN ambassador; John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe; Elizabeth Taylor and a US senator; and Pierre Trudeau – briefly – with Kim Cattrall.

Every time, attention has been extensive and strong, which irritates some who feel it is mere celebrity gossip and should be overlooked.

But it is acceptable to be interested and to care, says a humorist who hosts a podcast on celebrity relationships.

“No matter how well-known you are, there are certain stages to life and a relationship that are identical,” she said. “If you’re famous, they’re probably more accelerated or they’re more exaggerated.”

People cannot go around asking neighbours or acquaintances about the inner workings of relationships – but they can read about celebrities and politicians.

“We all might start dating with somebody and we might progress too quickly, or we become infatuated with the notion of the person, not the actual person, or they’re right for that time in your life but then you evolve so then it doesn’t work any more.

“When you look at celebrity couples, when you can really drill into the interactions of what happened, you can see it is just life.”

Celebrity relationships could shed light on all sorts of issues, said the writer, whether self-doubts, careers before children – or just when it’s time to move on.

“The most relatable part of a famous person is their personal affairs,” she said, whose podcast explores celebrity breakups.

Not one Perry nor Trudeau, commentators note, is at the top of their careers or lives.

Perry’s newest album, dropped four years after the previous one, was widely panned – although not maybe as bad as claimed by some. Yes, it’s “common-or-garden mediocre pop,” wrote a critic, “but it’s certainly some way less than total catastrophe.”

The singer was also ridiculed for taking part in an women-only space mission.

In July, Perry and British actor Orlando Bloom confirmed they were separating, six years after getting engaged. “She is struggling for significance,” said the writer. As is, debatably, Trudeau.

Voted in as Canada’s prime minister in 2015, Trudeau announced in January that he was resigning, effectively pushed by his own party.

In 2023, Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, revealed they were separating after 18 years of marriage, following what they said were “meaningful and difficult conversations.”

Back in charge of his own social media, one of Trudeau’s first Instagram posts was a picture of him shopping for kitchen supplies at a homewares outlet – “Gotta love a Monday morning,” he wrote, eliciting comment about the divorced dad aura he was giving off.

The Trudeau-Perry story has, naturally, led to people reflecting on Trudeau Sr and his relationship with Streisand, and what a romance it could have become.

Pierre Trudeau was one of Canada’s most successful, flamboyant and unconventional politicians. He rode a motorcycle, liked swimming nude and sliding down banisters, and wore casual footwear in the legislature.

Barbra Streisand was an icon.

“Wow,” she wrote in her autobiography about their first meeting. “I was intrigued by that contrast … the serious politician and the bohemian artist. Those two don’t usually go together.”

Streisand, whose marriage with actor Elliott Gould was struggling, was dazzled by this “very dapper, intelligent, intense” man, a “kind of combination of Albert Einstein and Napoleon (only taller)”.

They became an item in 1969. “I remember one afternoon … I was lying with my head on his lap, while he was reading official papers and I was reading a script. I thought to myself, This is bliss.”

The one thing she was not looking for, however, was a new husband and having more children, both of which she believed Trudeau wanted.

What next for Trudeau Jr and Perry remains to be seen. They are relatively young but past their peak, argues the writer, both maybe asking themselves what’s next. Might Trudeau and Perry be the next power couple? The next royal pair?

“There is a podcast coming, is what I’m saying,” she said. “A podcast and a foundation. I’m calling it.”