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Christine McGuinness has explained the reason why she didn’t leave her ‘unhappy’ marriage to Paddy McGuinness sooner.
The 34-year-old model married the Take Me Out host in 2011 and are parents to Felicity and twins Leo and Penelope.
All three of their children have autism, which they discussed openly in their ground-breaking 2021 BBC documentary Our Family and Autism.
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Christine also announced that she is also autistic in 2021. In a brief Instagram statement at the time, she wrote: "Autistic and proud. Now I feel ready to share another part of my story.
"I got my diagnosis a few months ago. I have felt different my whole life. Honestly, I am relieved to finally understand myself!"
The following year, it was announced that after 11 years of marriage, Paddy and Christine were separating but will remain living together in their family home in Cheshire.
Christine is set to appear in a BBC documentary titled Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism later this month where she will open up about living with autism and how it impacted her marriage.
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The TV personality said she felt ‘safe’ in her marriage and she ‘doesn’t like change’ which is why she didn't leave sooner.
She said: “I didn’t want my family to ever fall apart and that’s why I stayed married. As an autistic woman, I like to stay where I’m comfortable, I like things to stay the same."
The mum-of-three explained how her diagnosis has helped her understand herself and started a quest to figure out her identity, while also trying to be herself unapologetically.
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“I understand myself better now because that’s where I was comfortable just knowing that it was me, Patrick and the children - but sometimes change has to happen,” Christine said.
“You just have to deal with it in the best way possible.”
She added: “I wanted to be the perfect wife and the perfect mum. I insisted on doing absolutely everything.
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“I’m trying to not people please as much, which is hard because that’s just naturally me. I hate the thought of upsetting anyone, it really upsets me, I feel it a lot.”
One of the ways Christine is trying to find her identity is by saying ‘yes’ to things that ‘scare’ her.
“I want to enjoy life and I want to live and I want to do more, I want to experience more," she shared.
The documentary will also explore all the cases of women and girls who go undiagnosed. Autism is significantly more common to be diagnosed in boys than girls, however the exact reason for the skewed ratio is unclear.
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Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 15 March.
Gregory Robinson