Margaret Trudeau says former prime minister Pierre Trudeau could not eat or drink anything on the day he died because he could not swallow. She made the comments during a TV interview in which she speaks candidly about her ex-husband's final days.

In the feature interview with TV Ontario, Margaret Trudeau says Pierre Trudeau woke up on the day he died with tears rolling down his face.

He was sad the last morning when he woke up and I was there of course with him, she says. I said 'you can cry all you want, I'm just glad you're giving us another day.'

Pierre Trudeau died from prostate cancer on Sept. 28. The cancer hadn't gone so far to start exploding the tumours in his hips, so he was comfortable, Margaret Trudeau says.

She says on the day Pierre Trudeau died, the family listened to Beethoven.

It was his choice, Margaret Trudeau says. The morning before, of course, we listened to the most beautiful voice in the world as far as he and I are concerned, and that's of course Barbra, she says. Barbra Streisand was romantically linked to the former prime minister at one time.

The TV interview was filmed inside photographer Rod MacIvor's Trudeau photo exhibit near Ottawa. During the interview, Margaret Trudeau commented on some of the photos chronicling her time with Pierre Trudeau.

When looking at an old black-and-white photo of Pierre and Cuban President Fidel Castro, Margaret remarked: He and Fidel challenged each other with Fidel's idea of taking over and being a benevolent dictator and changing the poverty to thriving health in his country.

Margaret Trudeau also showed off a collage she made to commemorate the ex-prime minister's funeral.

Margaret was married to Pierre in the 1970s. Together they had three children -- Justin, Michel and Sasha. Michel died in an avalanche in 1998.