10 May 2023 , 16:09
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Finland’s outgoing prime minister, Sanna Marin and her partner of nearly two decades, Markus Raikkonen, are getting a divorce, according to Instagram.
Marin and Raikkonen, who until recently worked at a venture capital firm, have a five-year-old daughter together and married in 2020 after 16 years together.
"Together we've filed for divorce. We're grateful for the 19 years together and for our beloved daughter.
"We’re still best friends, close to each other and loving parents. Going forward we will still spend time together as a family and with each other. We wish you will respect our privacy. We won’t comment further on this", Marin wrote on Instagram.
Prime minister of Finland Sanna Marin and husband Markus Räikkönen (Jussi Nukari/REX/Shutterstock)The 37-year-old was the world’s youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019 and is considered by fans around the globe to be a millennial role model for progressive new leaders.
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Leaked footage of Marin dancing and drinking with friends and celebrities last year made headlines around the world, with people brandishing her behaviour as inappropriate for a prime minister.
Opposition parties demanded that she take a drug test and an official inquiry cleared her of misconduct.
"I danced, sang, and partied - perfectly legal things. And I've never been in a situation where I've seen or known of others [using drugs]," Marin said.
She continued: "I have a family life, I have a work life and I have free time to spend with my friends. Pretty much the same as many people my age."
"We have lived our youth together, entered adulthood together and grown into parents for our dear daughter together,” Marin wrote on Instagram after they got married in 2020.
In August last year, the prime minister was secretly filmed dancing intimately with Finnish singer Olavi Uusivirta and he was forced to issue a denial that they were having an affair.
Uusivirta claimed that he and Marin were just friends and that nothing inappropriate had happened between them at the Helsinki nightclub.
There is no suggestion Uusivirta is to blame for the couple's split.