How an ‘explosive’ revelation led to Iceland minister Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir’s resignation

Iceland Minister of Education and Children's Affairs Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir resigned from the post after an explosive revelation about her personal life.  Thorsdottir revealed that she had a “secret baby” with a 16-year-old boy when she was 22.  

Thorsdottir, 58, gave birth when she was 16-years-old. 

Reportedly, her revelation came after some local media reported about the affair and the secret baby. 

"It's because 36 years ago I was 22 years old and in a relationship with a man who was much younger than me, sixteen years old," she told Visir, a local news agency. 

"I am not the person I was 30 years ago," said Thorsdottir in an interview. 

Eiríkur Ásmundsson, the father of the baby had accused the minister of preventing him from visiting his son. He also alleged that Thorsdottir had been receiving child support payments from him for over 18 years.

"It's been 36 years and a lot of things have changed in that time and I would definitely have dealt with these issues differently today than I had the skills and maturity to do when I was 22,” she said.

Reportedly, their secret relationship continued for some time and Asmundsson was present at his child's birth. 

Ásmundsson, according to the Icelandic news agency RUV, had requested the country’s justice ministry to give him access to his son. However, Thorsdottir denied the allegations that he was not allowed to visit his son. 

While reacting to the incident, Iceland Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir said that the matter is “serious,” adding that she knows “more than an average person.”

Though it is not illegal for a person to have sex with a 15-year-old as it is the legal age in Iceland, it is illegal for a tutor or mentor to have sex with a person below 18 years of age. At the time of the relationship, Thorsdottir was a councillor at a religious group that Ásmundsson attended.