Christine McGuinness has opened up on the heartbreaking moment her nine-year-old daughter Penelope confessed she "didn't want to live" during lockdown.
The former Real Housewives of Cheshire star is a doting mum to three autistic children with husband Paddy - twins Penelope and Leo and six-year-old Felicity.
In a new interview, Christine revealed the impact the pandemic had on her children's mental health - particularly with her eldest daughter.
According to the model, Penelope suffered the most out of her siblings as she finds it difficult to "understand her emotions".
Speaking to The Sun's Fabulous magazine, Christine, 34, shared: "When they opened the schools back up, her teacher wasn’t allowed to give her a cuddle when she was upset and she didn’t understand.
"They were in bubbles and not allowed to play with the friends they used to play with, so Penelope felt like, ‘She doesn’t like me any more.’
“She took it very personally. And she said, ‘Mummy, I don’t want to live any more. I want to go to heaven.’ She doesn’t understand the severity of what she was saying, [but] obviously for a mum, that’s so worrying."
She added: "It was a heartbreaking time and probably one of the most difficult conversations I will ever have in my life."
Just like her children, Christine also has autism after being diagnosed with the condition last year.
In her book, A Beautiful Nightmare, the star went on to detail the health problems her children face on a daily basis.
As well as autism, Leo has vision problem and needs glasses and has to get his eyes checked at hospital every six weeks.
Christine added: "He’s also got hypermobility, which means he’s really bendy and his joints are quite loose. Physically, he’s not very strong, which is something he might need help with when he’s older. He can run, walk and play, but he gets tired quite easily and his limbs go everywhere when he’s moving, so he has physiotherapy and support in school for that.
"Probably the scariest of Leo’s health issues is his severe nut allergy, which is quite frightening for us, because a peanut could potentially kill him."
Meanwhile, Penelope's autism can mean she struggles to understand things and that she'll sometimes outright refuse to do something that she loves if she's overcome with anxiety.
"Unfortunately, it’s something that’s really common with autistic children and adults, and especially teenagers – they can be overcome with anxiety about things," Christine wrote.
"It’s something I’m always going to worry about with Penelope, as she’s prone to feeling very overwhelmed."
Speaking about youngest daughter Felicity, she added: "Then there’s my whirlwind Felicity. Let’s put it this way, you know when Felicity’s in the house!"
It comes after Christine recently opened up about her marriage struggles with Paddy.
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