Raunchy trove of photos shows just how far Justin Trudeau’s lookalike son Xavier is willing to go for fame… as inherited family secret is exposed

When your father is the prime minister, perhaps you can be forgiven for wanting to march to your own tune. A youthful, long-haired Justin Trudeau fled Ottawa for the Canadian Rockies when his father Pierre was in charge, working for several years as a snowboard instructor.

‘I’m still figuring myself out, figuring if I can deal with the kind of circus my dad had to deal with,’ Trudeau, then 30, said in 2002. And the apple did not fall far from the tree.

Trudeau’s own son, 18-year-old Xavier, is also set on carving his own path – but instead of retreating to the Rockies, he is churning out Justin Bieber-meets-Drake pop and R&B… and posing for some very raunchy shots in a recent photoshoot for buzzy Gen Z clothing brand, Raimundo Langlois.

In the photographs, obtained by the Daily Mail, Xav, as he is known, bares if not all, then not far from it, pulling up his polo-shirt to expose his washboard abs and arm wrestling half-naked with a fellow model in a shoot that bears more than an echo of Heated Rivalry.

In one image, he chomps down on a fat cigar. It’s not the first time we’ve seen Xav attempt to be provocative. Modeling is, he told one journalist, just a natural extension of what he, perhaps optimistically, describes as his music ‘career.’

Under that banner he has pouted in slow-motion black and white videos, ambling wistfully along an empty beach in a hoodie or, bizarrely, sitting astride a horse looking a little lost. The heavily engineered music is produced by an independent label and none of those involved appear to be over 20.

Unlike his father, Xav is clearly unashamed about capitalizing on his connections. ‘I ain’t ready,’ he croons in The Dive, a song about him walking away from expectations, released in the fall. ‘The dive’s too high.’

As he sings, a dark-haired man in a suit is seen from behind. The camera pans up, slowly, to reveal the figure pensively staring off a balcony: Xav’s father, who was, until last year, one of the most powerful people in the world.

Now, of course, Trudeau Sr, 54, is bopping his way around the world with girlfriend Katy Perry, 41. On Thursday he was brutally roasted online after Perry shared a clip of her and her beau ‘hopping like rabbits’ to promote her latest song, Watch It Burn. A title that rather begs the question if it’s Trudeau’s credibility she’s talking about.

Last month it was Xav’s turn to pay bizarre tribute to his perhaps-soon-to-be stepmother, leaping around on stage in Ottawa on June 19 as Perry’s Firework played at the end of his set.

What is going on? As the son and grandson of prime ministers, a member of Canada’s answer to the Kennedys, shouldn’t Trudeau Jr be a little, well, more serious?

Not according to his father.

‘Life’s about the choices you make,’ said a besuited Justin in one Instagram video, speaking in a tone usually reserved for parliament. ‘Check out The Dive, now.’

In May, when Xav was announced as the half-time performer for the Ottawa BlackJacks season opener, Justin goofily posed beside him, basketball in hand. ‘I’m just a proud dad at soundcheck,’ he said.

Xav’s mother, Sophie, who separated from Justin in 2023 after almost 20 years of marriage, appears equally approving.

‘Mon Big Buddy est courageux!!! (brave),’ she wrote on Instagram after that June 19 show, adding a heart emoji and a flame. ‘I love you!’

She is also unconcerned about embarrassing the teen.

When he posted the cigar-smoking photo from the shoot, she commented on Instagram: ‘It’s all good! (Minus the cigar…says « Moooooom »).’

And when in January he shared a ‘day in the life’ video on the site, drawling: ‘I went through my closet, I picked out some things – let me know what y’all thinking,’ his mother commented: ‘You went through MY closet!!!!!’

The parental involvement is cringey, but perhaps inevitable.

His glamorous Persian Italian influencer girlfriend, Pariya Carello, certainly approves, posting praise frequently online – in between bikini shots on the beach – and sharing loved-up photos of the two.

‘Killed itttttt,’ she wrote on Wednesday, beneath a post of him performing in Ottawa. When he shared some modeling shots, she responded: ‘So handsome.’

Xav is earnest about his motivations, saying he hopes to recreate the luxurious world in which he was raised, but on his own terms.

‘It always felt super good to be in these places, security around me, private escort, whatever it is,’ he told Canadian content creator Dr Hobs last year, sitting in his car eating fast food.

‘It was always a sick feeling. But inside I was like, I don’t feel fulfilled. This isn’t me. I’m not the one who created this for myself. Which is part of the reason why I’m doing this music stuff, because I want to create an identity for myself.

‘I want to be Xav, I don’t want to be Justin Trudeau’s son. I don’t want to be doing all these cool things because of my dad: I want to be doing them for me.’

And he has high hopes.

He has dabbled in modeling, shooting the campaign for jeans brand Raimundo Langlois pictured here, and wants to break through to the major French fashion houses.

‘I like Louis Vuitton shoes. I have a bunch of their stuff, so definitely that’s a big goal,’ he told GQ last month. ‘Vogue would be sick.’

Representatives for Xav Trudeau did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.

His confidence and – arguably – sense of entitlement is unsurprising, given his gilded existence.

His grandfather, Pierre Trudeau, served as prime minister from 1968 to 1979, and again from 1980 to 1984, and is often credited as the man who ‘made’ modern Canada – a rare rock star among politicians. He died in 2000, aged 80 – seven years before Xav was born.

Xav’s father Justin ruled the country for more than a decade, and in the early years, was feted worldwide for his handsome charm and charisma. Kate Winslet declared herself in 2017 ‘obsessed’ with him, while Courtney Love that same year called him ‘dreamy.’ Barack Obama praised him as ‘a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change,’ while Bono described him as ‘a remarkable leader who’s put together the most diverse Cabinet on the planet.’

Xav and his siblings (17-year-old Ella Grace, who does backing vocals for some of his songs, and 12-year-old Hadrien) grew up, like their father, in Ottawa.

Pierre Trudeau was already prime minister when Justin was born, and Justin’s childhood home was 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minister’s official residence.

By the time Justin himself was elected, in 2015, 24 Sussex was run down, so the family instead moved to Rideau Cottage, a red brick Georgian Revival mansion just down the road.

Xav has described his childhood as happy, privileged and supportive.

‘My parents wanted me to be exposed to music from a young age,’ he told podcast host Brandon Gonez in June last year, adding that they paid for guitar, piano and drum lessons.

He said discovering the BandLab app was a revelation.

‘That’s where I started experimenting – just playing around, creating tracks, and realizing I could actually make something that sounded good.

‘My mom loves Celine Dion, and my dad’s into rock – The Tragically Hip and that vibe. It helped me appreciate different genres.’

Xav attended high school in Ottawa, graduating in the summer of 2025.

He told Gonez that summer that he intended on following in his father’s footsteps and enrolling in Montreal’s McGill University in the fall of 2025.

His Instagram, however, shows no signs of any studying, but plenty of beach time in St Barts and blazing around in his convertible red Corvette.

His father was also, famously, a car fanatic, frequently pictured behind the wheel of a metallic silver 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL which he inherited – jointly with his brother Sacha – from their own father.

Xav knows that his brand of poppy R&B is not for everyone. And he knows many of those attacking him online are simply taking out their anger about his father’s policies.

‘When I started releasing music, I got so much hate on social media just because of who my dad is,’ he told Gonez.

‘If you don’t like the music, just keep scrolling. You can comment if you want, it’s only going to help my algorithm.’