When Senator Ted Cruz gets asked about celebrity couples on Capitol Hill, you’d better believe he’s got a take—and a sports metaphor to back it up.
On Tuesday, Cruz fielded a question about the unexpected romance between former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and pop icon Katy Perry, and he didn’t hold back. The Texas senator invoked the football phrase“outkicking your coverage”to describe what he sees as a significant talent disparity in the pairing. It’s a playful way of saying Trudeau’s punching above his weight—and Cruz would know, since he was quick to note that he’s doing the exact same thing in his own marriage to Heidi Cruz. The self-aware humor landed, and it’s the kind of thing that makes a soundbite stick.
Here’s the context: Trudeau and Perry started dating last summer, shortly after she split from longtime partner Orlando Bloom. Trudeau has been legally separated from his estranged wife, Sophie Grégoire, since 2023. The couple has been fairly public about their relationship, and they were recently caught by photographers packing on the PDA in Santa Barbara, suggesting things are still heating up.
What’s remarkable about this pairing isn’t just that it happened—it’s that it happened at all. Trudeau is a former head of state nursing a separation; Perry is one of pop’s biggest names and a cultural force in her own right. On paper, they seemed like long shots for each other. Yet here we are in June 2026, watching the former prime minister and the Queen of Camp make it work. Cruz’s reaction perfectly captures the public sentiment: surprise, amusement, and a grudging tip of the hat to Trudeau for landing someone so far out of his league.
As for what this means for U.S.-Canada relations? Well, Cruz had an answer for that too. Whether it actually moves the needle diplomatically remains to be seen—but if nothing else, the relationship has given political figures a lighter topic to riff on between serious business. Sometimes that’s worth something.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.