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7 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Justin Trudeau

Trudeau walks through the Ohio Clock Corridor as he arrives in the Capitol to meet with members of the U.S. Senate on March 10. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Trudeau walks through the Ohio Clock Corridor as he arrives in the Capitol to meet with members of the U.S. Senate on March 10. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 44, has been getting the celebrity treatment as he prepares for his first state visit to Washington this week. A “60 Minutes” feature on Sunday compared him to a young John F. Kennedy. He was called “strikingly young” and “dashing” in a Vogue profile after his November inauguration. And The New York Post  in October called his wife, Sophie, “the hottest first lady in the world.” Here are seven things you might not know about Trudeau.  

1. Richard Nixon was the first to predict that Trudeau would follow in the footsteps of his father, the late Pierre Trudeau, and become Canada’s prime minister. Nixon toasted the infant Trudeau at a state dinner in 1972, saying, “To the future prime minister of Canada.”  

2. One of the first things he did when he moved into his new office, which was his father’s for 16 years starting in the 70s, was reinstall his father’s old desk .  

3. He used to be a teacher . He taught French, math and drama to high school students before entering politics.  

4. He starred in a 2007 documentary about Canada’s role in World War II. Trudeau played Talbot Papineau, a lawyer and famous soldier who was killed in action.  

5.  He has two tattoos. He got a big planet Earth inked on his left shoulder when he was 23. He added a raven surrounding it when he turned 40. The raven is a symbol of the Haida people indigenous to Canada’s Pacific northwest.  

6. His mother is the socialite Maggie Trudeau, a flower child turned first lady who partied at New York City’s Studio 54. She’s now a mental health advocate.  

7. He became an Internet sensation shortly after he was elected when a 2003 video surfaced showing that he was a pro at Bollywood-style dancing .

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