Iceland’s Education Minister Resigns After Acknowledging Past Relationship with Teenager

Following the revelation of a past relationship with a 15-year-old boy she was in charge of over three decades ago that resulted in the birth of a child, Iceland's Minister of Education and Children's Affairs, Asthildur Loa Thorsdottir, quit her job.

The 58-year-old legislator revealed in an interview with the Icelandic website Visir that the relationship began when she was 22 years old and working as a support group counselor.

Eirk Asmundsson was 15 years old, and the two were parents to a child when Asmundsson was 16 years old and Thorsdottir was 23 years old.

The revelation caused uproar, especially since Asmundsson alleged she had withheld access to their child despite him paying eighteen years' worth of child support.

Asmundsson asserted that even though he was present at the birth and spent the first year of the child's life with him, his requests for visitation rights were rejected repeatedly. His efforts to contact his son were thwarted, documents from Iceland's Ministry of Justice stated, which increased the public outcry.

It is illegal in Iceland for a person in authority, such as a teacher or mentor, to have sexual contact with a child under the age of eighteen. The maximum sentence for this offense is three years in jail.

Asmundsson stepped down after a relative reportedly attempted to discuss the issue with Iceland's prime minister. In citing the potential disruption of government affairs, Thorsdottir replied by choosing to step down.

If I were minister anymore, she stated, "we know what the news is like today, and we know that problems such as this would be raised again and again, and there would never really be peace in the government."