Prior to being known to music fans as Katy Perry‘s “love of my life,” Justin Trudeau served as prime minister of Canada for nearly a decade.
The son of former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau — who held the role from 1968 until 1979, and again from 1980 to 1984 — Trudeau just announced a new project that represents a big shift away from the political arena.
Hope & Hard Work
GettyOn Friday, September 11, Trudeau announced the launch of Hope & Hard Work, a new production company in partnership with his former chief of staff, Katie Telford.
In a press release heralding the formation of the new production company, Trudeau and Telford said that Hope & Hard Work will be creating both scripted and unscripted content.
The duo plan to create Canadian content that will be exported throughout the world.
“At a time when the world can feel increasingly divided, we believe in the power of great storytelling to bring people closer,” Trudeau and Telford said in a joint statement, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Projects in Development
Per that press release, several projects are already in the pipeline.
These include screen adaptations of Perry Chafe’s Newfoundland-set coming-of-age novel “Closer by Sea,” and Uzma Jalaluddin’s cozy mystery “Detective Aunty.”
“As a Canadian company, we have an opportunity to bring values including kindness, optimism, openness and a belief in one another to everything we make, wherever the story comes from and wherever it ultimately finds its audience,” the statement added.
Taking a Page From the Obamas
By pivoting from politics to producing, Trudeau is following the trail blazed by former U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who founded their Higher Ground Productions in 2018.
Higher Ground has produced several documentaries and scripted projects — most recently, the HBO comedy series “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness” from “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David.
A New Romance
In August 2023, Trudeau announced that he and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, were separating.
In June 2025, Perry and her longtime partner, “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Orlando Bloom, announced they were splitting up.
Shortly after, in July 2025, Perry was performing in Montreal during her Lifetimes tour when she met Trudeau.
Romance between the newly single pair sparked instantly, and after several months of rumors the two officially acknowledged they were a couple.
During a Q&A following a screening of her concert film, “The Lifetimes Tour: Live From Paris,” the former “American Idol” judge recalled the fateful Montreal concert that brought Trudeau into her life.
“Actually, that show was after I met the love of my life, and so I felt very anchored by that,” she said, as reported by US Weekly. “I’m a little bit like a rainbow kite. I fly super high. Sometimes I need to be anchored, so to have that anchor finally makes me feel really whole now.”
Added Perry: “I am very in love.”
