Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie on Wednesday announced separation after 18 years of marriage.

In a post on Instagram, the prime minister said “after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate."

A statement from the Prime Minister’s office said that the couple have signed “a legal separation agreement."

“Hi everyone, Justin and I would like to share the fact that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate. As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build. For the well-being of our children, we ask that you respect our and their privacy. Thank you," Sophie said in a post on Instagram.

The PM’s office said the public can expect to continue seeing them and their three children together as “they remain a close family" and both parents will be a “constant presence in their children’s lives."

They asked for privacy ahead of a family vacation scheduled for next week.

Trudeau and his wife, a former entertainment reporter, were childhood friends and reconnected in 2003 while co-hosting a charity ball. They soon started dating and married in 2005 in Montreal.

They have three children together: Xavier, 15, Ella Grace, 14, and nine-year-old Hadrien.

The separation is the first for a Canadian prime minister since Trudeau’s late father Pierre Trudeau, who split from Margaret Trudeau and eventually divorced in 1984 during his final months in office.