I'd studied acting in New York when I left Pierre - that was the big thing that I did. I worked very hard at it, actually.
— Margaret Trudeau
Oh, am I a feminist? I usually say that I was an accidental feminist. Really, I was just being me.
Depression is 80 per cent of my condition, and 10 per cent is mania, and 10 per cent is what we call normal. I say that must be when I am buying groceries. Or vacuuming.
Being bipolar is a huge exaggeration of your emotions. You can be pretty high and also terribly low, so I've been through it all.
I have a bigger, peaceful view of life than aggressively breaking down other people.
You can't fix yourself out of a mental health issue. You can't wake up and say, 'Today I'm not being depressed!' It's a process to get well, but there is recovery.
The first thing that happens to someone with a mental illness, in the throes of it, is that they lose all their self-esteem. They don't think they fit in.
I know, as a mother, it hurts you very much to see your children suffer.
I'm not really part of the Internet world, my age a factor in that and a lack of interest in sharing with so many, so little, so much, so often.
I tried to be a good wife, but I was lost in my gilded cage.
I think we can choose to be happy in our lives.
Do you know what prepares you for the mental hospital? Being a prime minister's wife.
I was pregnant and nursing most of the years I was at 24 Sussex. I was ill-prepared and hardly even knew my husband, let alone how I was supposed to fit into this world that was very alien to me.
I was so surprised, astonished, when I lost my mind, because I didn't think that I ever would. I assumed I would always be just fine.
Canadians know me so well - I am part of Canada's collective memory - and my fame would get people through the door who would not otherwise be interesting in talking about mental health.
We don't help people mourn in our society.
The main thing that triggered my depression was my isolation that was imposed on me by becoming the wife of the prime minister, and leaving my home, my family. I was young, very young, and very naive and very hopeful and enthusiastic about my wonderful new life, but it was the loneliness and the lack of being able to properly relate to people.
My life has been extreme. Most people will not have the experience I've had. But the things that changed me, really changed me, they happen to everyone.
I think I devoted my life to Pierre Trudeau and our beautiful children.
The problem with mental illness, as opposed to physical illness, is that it involves wrong thinking or impaired insight. You're not thinking correctly.
Pierre was an extraordinary teacher - he really was one of the best, and he raised the boys so, so well: to have a global view, to have compassion, to be humanitarians, to really be concerned about alleviating suffering.
I try to build up people, not break them down, and in politics, it seems now the game is breaking down your opponents.
I think our jobs as parents is to raise our children with empathy - to figure out who this little character is, almost from birth, and then guide them to fulfill their best potential.
I remember, after my first postpartum depression, I didn't know what had happened to me. I was stuck in this gray depression where I just wanted to retreat and pull the covers over my head and weep. My mother and I, we went to a psychiatrist, and he just patted me on the head and told me I had baby blues, which was not helpful, obviously.
You have got to give. There is no other reason to be on the planet.
The best luxury in the world isn't a diamond ring or a nice house - well, it could be - but it's privacy.
I thought of 24 Sussex Drive as the crown jewel of the federal penitentiary system.
I've had such an exciting life.
I didn't even like Mick Jagger.
I had no idea there was such a thin line between sanity and insanity. I got pushed right to the edge by tragedy in my life, and I couldn't stand up; I couldn't recover.
I have had quite the grand, interesting life.
My life for so many years was a reality show.
Mania is the most destructive of the forces. Everybody around you will tell you you're in trouble, and you can't hear what they are saying.
I live with being bipolar, but it doesn't define me anymore.
Every life is extraordinary.
There was imbalance with my first husband just by the given of our 29-year age difference and the difficulty of me being this unformed, enthusiastic young woman and he already completely in place being the leader of the country.
I have a lot of lovely things in my life that I wasn't able to have before I got healed from my imbalanced life.
I tell the children I want everyone to love the life that they're in, to be who they are... and make it the best life they can.
The secret is to nip any mental disorder in the bud. As soon as you're not feeling yourself, reach out and get some help because you can quickly get better. If you get stuck in it, it's so hard to get out.
With my children, balance was everything: being not just a workaholic, not only studying but taking time to renew and restore yourself and taking time to pay attention to your brain health and not assume, as we all do, that our brains are perfect.
When we have healthy children, we have a healthy community. They can learn. They can play. They can be part of the future. They can help you all do very well and prosper instead of suffering.
I shouldn't say it, but I found that the French can be the most arrogant people in the world if they want to be.
I was a bit of a mother hen at Studio 54.
We can choose to wake up and grumble all day and be bitter and angry and judge others and find satisfaction in others doing bad instead of good. Or we can we wake up with optimism and love and say, 'Just what is this beautiful day going to bring me?'
I've had so many rich, rich, beautiful things happen to me in my life because I do have energy, and I do reach out, and I stretch my eyes.
My honesty about mental illness has helped open a door for real conversation, and I think Justin wants to continue that conversation. He has put no restrictions on me. His father couldn't. Why should he try?
You need community support. You're pretty defeated when you're laid low with a mental illness. It's a frightening place to be, and to get up and be able to stand and to move forward and to start functioning again, you need so much support. You need to feel you're not alone.
I have some great stories. But I am also very human, and I suffered an awful lot.
Every day is wonderful for me.
I can only ask people to be tolerant of the fact that the... pressures of wives of politicians is very, very strong.