Margaret Trudeau Calls Indigenous Mental Health Crisis 'Our Shame Forever'

Margaret Trudeau, the former wife of one prime minister and mother of another, has spent the past decade building her own legacy as one of Canada's most outspoken mental-health advocates.

After becoming international tabloid fodder during the 1970s – a time when most assumed the young mother of three was just a hippie wild child who ditched Pierre and the kids to party at Studio 54 with Andy Warhol and hang with the Rolling Stones – she revealed in 2006 that her manic behaviour was the result of undiagnosed bipolar disorder.


Since opening up about her personal struggles, Trudeau has worked tirelessly to change how Canadians think about mental health.

"I've been crisscrossing the country, speaking in small villages, towns, cities, wherever I can to try and break the stigma that people have, the fear they have of seeking treatments and getting help if they are suffering from a mental disorder," she told HuffPost Canada backstage at last month's We Day youth activism rally in Toronto, an event being broadcast on MTV Canada at 11 p.m. EST and 8 p.m. PST on Nov. 28.
"I've been crisscrossing the country, speaking in small villages, towns, cities, wherever I can to try and break the stigma."