What Justin Trudeau’s new era with Katy Perry tells us about his life after politics

It’s a pairing few could have predicted: a former prime minister of Canada and an American pop star who has traveled the world and reached the edge of space.

Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry have made it official. The couple were spotted holding hands by paparazzi as they left the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris last weekend, where they celebrated Perry’s 41st birthday.

Although they may seem like an unlikely duo, Trudeau and Perry, who have been in the spotlight for much of the last decade, have more in common than some might think. And their budding romance is not without precedent in the lexicon of Canadian political history.

The pairing also offers a rare glimpse into the private life of Trudeau, who became a global progressive icon after being appointed to Canada’s highest office in 2015 and was forced to resign from politics after his popularity plummeted earlier this year.

Perry similarly faced a variety of unwanted headlines last year.

Her latest album and tour received poor reviews, a highly publicized trip aboard the Blue Origin Space Flight was widely mocked, and she and actor Orlando Bloom announced they were splitting after nearly a decade together.

Jose Rodriguez, professor of Communication Studies at California State University Long Beach, said the relationship was “a very interesting and unexpected rebranding for both of them.”

He added that partnering with a statesman created a reliable bridge for Perry to civic and philanthropic endeavors. It expands its audience and increases its reach to politically relevant public and global organizations outside the music industry.

For Trudeau, 53, the California Girls singer helps his new persona because he’s in a “softer arena full of pop culture and music,” Mr. Rodriguez said, rather than the tough world of politics where he’s already bruised and battered.

Simple human connection is also at the core of this, observers noted. Both are newly single — Trudeau and his wife separated in 2023 — and this is both their first high-profile post-split romance.

Romance rumors began swirling in late July, when the two were spotted having dinner together at Le Violon, a swanky restaurant in the heart of Montreal.

Two days later, Trudeau was seen attending Perry’s rally in the city. Videos circulating online show her singing along to her hit songs “Firework” and “Teenage Dream.”

Then, in mid-October, footage of them kissing on Perry’s yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, went viral.

Neither Trudeau nor Perry have spoken publicly about their romance. His representatives did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment. But before the weekend photos were released, the singer appeared to have hinted at the relationship during her London tour last month.

A fan in the audience proposed to her shortly after photos emerged of her and Trudeau canoodling on a yacht.

“You know, you really should have asked me this 48 hours ago,” Perry said.

Many observers wondered what the two might have in common, but each is recovering from reputational blows in his own way.

Trudeau was elected to a large majority government in 2015, promising “sunny roads” and a new era of progressive politics in Canada. It was admired abroad for its youthful appeal and the symbolic break from traditional politics it represented.

But it didn’t take long for scandals to tarnish Trudeau’s image. A number of luxury holidays have come under fire for being tone-deaf; these included a trip to the private Aga Khan island in the Bahamas that was found to violate federal conflict of interest laws. In 2019, Trudeau faced another controversy when old photos of him in blackface surfaced, forcing him to make a public apology.

By the end of his term, Canadians were disillusioned with his political leadership and ready to move on.

As a rule, Canadian media mostly stay away from commenting on politicians’ family lives.

“There is certainly a reasonable respect for the privacy of politicians in Canada,” said Jonathan Malloy, a professor of political science at Carleton University in Ottawa. “If Mr. Trudeau were dating someone more casual, no one would really pay attention.”

But Perry is far from ordinary.

In a separate but not dissimilar timeline, Perry was enjoying the peak of pop stardom in the 2010s. He consistently scored chart-topping hits and his bold, colorful style helped define pop culture. In 2018, Billboard Magazine named her one of the biggest pop stars of the 21st century.

But the scandal found him too. He was known as the frenemy who fueled criticism of Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood. His newest album, 143, was panned by critics as his worst artistic effort to date. The Guardian called it “somewhat short of a complete disaster”, while The Daily Telegraph called it a “disaster”.

He was labeled deaf for participating in a six-person spaceflight earlier this year with Jeff Bezos’ wife, Lauren Sanchez, and CBS anchor Gayle King. Perry acknowledged the criticism in April, saying “I’m not perfect” and “the Internet is a dumping ground for the unstable and unhealed.”

She then fell out with Bloom, whom she had been with after her marriage to broadcaster and comedian Russell Brand broke up in 2011.

Los Angeles Times pop music critic Mikael Wood said, “When you’re in the middle of an unfortunate story, the best thing you can do is move on to a different story.”

The relationship with Trudeau “changes the subject from a flop album and a tour that seems a little thirsty and misguided and gets us talking about something else”.

The moderate expansion of the relationship also seemed to make it easier for observers to become swept up in the romance.

Prof Rodriguez noted that their love of stepping into Paris was a “high signal, low confirmation of speech” that allowed the visuals to do the work.

“Each has weathered scrutiny, so a carefully crafted relationship narrative can reindex attention around liveliness, optimism, and cross-domain fit,” he said.

The two have things in common.

Mr. Kennedy observed that he and Trudeau were ideologically compatible. He said the two were “anti-establishment” subversives in their respective fields.

Perry himself is no stranger to activism and politics. He performed at several campaign events for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has publicly supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

She is a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights and has supported various feminist charities and causes; Issues that Trudeau also publicly supported (he famously made gender equality central to his policy in the cabinet).

They also each appear to be devoted parents to their young children. Perry’s four-year-old daughter, Daisy, makes frequent appearances on Instagram. Trudeau’s Instagram account shows that he spent the summer taking each of his three children on separate vacations.

By dating Perry, Trudeau is charting a different path in post-politics than his predecessors, who often took high-level consulting jobs or joined law firms. But Michael Mulvey, a marketing professor at the University of Ottawa, said that was normal for an always unconventional prime minister.

While other Canadian prime ministers have generally come from law or economics backgrounds, Trudeau was a teacher before entering politics.

And as the son of former prime minister Pierre Eliott Trudeau, he grew up in the spotlight. One of her first photos shows her as a baby, held by former US First Lady Pat Nixon.

After splitting from his wife, the youngest Trudeau could not avoid inevitable comparisons with his father, who also split from his first wife and the mother of his children, Margaret Trudeau, while in office.

The parallels don’t end there. Trudeau senior had several celebrity relationships, with American singer Barbra Streisand and Canadian actress Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City.

“There is no doubt that we are seeing history repeating itself,” Prof Malloy said.

This extraordinary life and upbringing always made Trudeau a target of those who disliked him. For some, his association with Perry is a reminder of that.

But Prof Mulvey noted that there were others in the dating world who connected with his human experience as a newly single father.

Shortly after leaving politics, Trudeau posted a photo of himself buying kitchenware at a Canadian Tire store; commentators interpreted this as signaling the beginning of his “divorced dad era”.

“There are probably some people who hope that they will recover, get over the post-divorce trauma and move on with their lives,” Prof Mulvey said. he said.