After 18 years of marriage, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau have announced they are separating.

The couple announced the decision on social media, saying that it came after “many meaningful and difficult conversations.”

They ask that their privacy be respected, for the well being of their three children – 15-year-old-Xavier, 14-year-old Ella-Grace, and nine-year-old Hadrien.

Trudeau becomes the second Prime Minister to announce a separation while serving in the nation’s highest office.

His father, Pierre Trudeau, divorced his mother Margaret, in 1984, after separating in 1979.