Sanna Marin reveals the truth about her divorce – “Something irreversible had happened”

The former prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, 39, tells about her life, career and relationship in her own words in the new book. Writing Hope is action in the book (Gummerus, 2025) Marin also describes her divorce.

In May 2023, Marin shared on social media that she and her longtime spouse Markus Räikkönen have filed for divorce together.

– We are filing for divorce together. We are grateful for 19 years together and for our beloved daughter, Marin announced.

The year 2023 was a year of change for me in all areas of my life. I believe that in order to truly open new doors, you have to close old ones.

Marin writes how leading the government in turbulent times had also taken its toll on a personal level and that he was tired.

My relationship with Markus, our marriage, was falling apart. The connection between me and Markus had always been very close, ever since we met at the age of 18. However, over the past few years, it had slowly eroded due to my intensive and time-consuming work. Our previous daily conversations about life, the world and all kinds of topics had stopped.

Marin describes how work absorbed all of her energy. The couple lived together, but Marin felt they were just passing each other by.

I remember the exact moment when I realized that the bond between me and Markus had been broken. Nothing dramatic happened. No breach of trust, no disrespectful behavior. Just a clear realization that something irreversible had happened.

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In the piece, Marin describes how he thought of the Danish TV series called Bastion of power. In the series, a politician from a medium-sized party, Birgitte Nyborg, becomes the prime minister of Denmark. At the beginning, the politician is happy in his relationship, but with the prime ministership, the couple drifts apart. At the end of the production period, the marriage ends.

When watching the series, the ex-couple could not understand why the relationship was sacrificed for another career. However, now Marin understood. It is not a conscious choice.

From the outside, our separation may have seemed sudden, but separations rarely really are. We didn’t give up easily. We tried for a long time to fix what was broken. But it was impossible to restore the lost connection when there is simply no time and quitting your job is not an option. So we accepted that sometimes relationships end.

“A common mind”

In her book, Marin also tells about the progress of her and Räikkönen’s relationship. The ex-couple met when they were 18 years old in a night club with Marin’s friend after the housewarming party. After a year of dating, they took the next step in their relationship.

Markus came to me one day and announced that he had rented us an apartment in the city. I was a little surprised – we hadn’t discussed moving in together at all – but it didn’t take long to convince me, because we were very much in love and both ready to be independent from our childhood families.

Räikkönen and Marin moved together to Tampere, where Marin later started university studies and became a member of SDP.

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When Marin became a member of parliament, it also affected the relationship, because there was less time together. Räikkönen and Marin lived in Tampere, but now Marin’s work was focused on Helsinki.

Despite the distance, me and Markus were extremely close – we talked for hours on the phone about life, work and everything possible. At that point we had been together for over ten years. We continued each other’s sentences and thoughts, as if we had a common mind.

According to Marin, the ex-couple found it difficult that they could spend time together even in the midst of busy work. Marini had a rented apartment in Hakaniemi, Helsinki, and she was in Tampere on weekends and during parliamentary recesses.

Often one of them would travel a couple of hours by train just to sleep next to the other, even if they had to wake up at five in the morning to make it to work in another city in time.

“The best person I know”

Marin and Räikkönen got Emma-daughter in 2018. A couple of years later, the couple got married after 16 years together. The wedding was organized in Kesäranta in August 2020.

In her book, Marin tells how working as prime minister, for example during the corona crisis, took a considerable toll on the couple’s one-on-one time. However, Räikkönen stayed by the side encouraging.

It’s hard for anyone to find one-on-one time with a partner while working and being a parent of a small child. The Prime Minister’s work schedule made it even more difficult. Markus was always understanding and encouraging, but we both looked forward to the opportunity to spend the day doing the usual things that couples do on their day off.

In the book, Marin speaks highly of her ex-spouse and her family.

Markus is still the best person I know, and I know he thinks the same about me. We have a wonderful daughter together and will forever be her loving parents, even though our relationship has changed shape.

The same line continues in the acknowledgments written at the end of the book. Marin thanks her many loved ones, friends and collaborators both in her career and in the book project. Markus Räikkönen and his daughter also deserve thanks.

My deepest appreciation and love goes to Markus Räikkönen, who has supported, loved and encouraged me. I am incredibly grateful that I got to share my life with you for so many years and that we have a wonderful daughter together.

Emma, ​​you are the greatest joy in my life. I am immensely proud of you. You bring so much love into my life that I didn’t know existed until I had you. I can’t wait for all the adventures we will have together. When I look at you, I see hope.

Italicized passages are direct quotes from Sanna Marini’s book Hope is action (Gummerus).