Christine McGuinness has made an admission about 'loving herself' after being overjoyed at getting the 'best compliment ever' from her children. The model has had quite the week following the release of her first children's book which saw her return to TV for the first time in a while.
The 34-year-old told fans that she had 'intentionally' kept away from making appearances on the small screen but appeared on Loose Women last Thursday (March 2) to promote her book, Amazing Me, Amazing You, and chat about her new BBC documentary.
In her first big solo project since announcing her split from her Top Gear host husband Paddy McGuinness, Christine will front her own BBC One film, Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism, which will see her reveal how autism in women and girls has been ignored and misunderstood by science and society, leaving thousands of women undiagnosed.
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The former Real Housewives Cheshire star is the proud mum of twins Penelope and Leo, nine, and youngest daughter Felicity, six, who she shares with ex husband Paddy McGuinnes and who all have autism. Christine herself has also been diagnosed with the developmental disability caused by differences in the brain that affects how people communicate and interact with the world.
The film follows the BBC One documentary Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism, screened in November 2021, in which they met other parents, experts and people on the autism spectrum. The programme also followed Christine's diagnosis.
The mum-of-three has already revealed that she stayed in her marriage to Bolton-born TV presenter Paddy because it was "safe" and she "doesn’t like change", which she realised after being diagnosed with autism. She announced that she had split from Question of Sport presenter Paddy, 49, last July.
Christine 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. 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. You just have to deal with it in the best way possible."
In the programme, Christine also meets other autistic mothers which allowed her to form friendships with women who could relate personally to her life experiences. "I just do find it harder to keep a friendship going with neurotypical people," she said.
"I can do it, I can socialise for a bit and I can be polite to everybody and I can go into a room and get along with most people but it’s continuing a friendship, like building some kind of a relationship that’s the part that I really struggle with. But with those girls it was quite easy."
She has also shared how her on deep dive into the lifelong developmental disability has helped her accept herself more. "I’m a lot less apologetic about myself now," she said before adding: "Love is quite a strong word, isn’t it? I don’t know if I could fully love myself but I’m proud of myself and I’m happy with where I am right now."
Over the weekend, Christine shared her joy as her book topped the Amazon charts within days of its release. Posting a string of pictures of herself amid her busy promotion trial for both the book and her documentary, she added a screenshot showing Amazing Me, Amazing You, at number one in the best sellers list.
"My kids said I’m cool for being an author. Best compliment ever!!!" Christine shared. She then added: "(Number 1 best selling author but I don’t like to brag about it). These last couple of days have been a very chaotic dream. I have been inundated with love and support. Thank you for sharing your stories with me!"
And Christine was quickly applauded by the likes of Helen Skelton, Nadia Sawalha and Helen Flanagan with fans also commenting to share their praise and support.
@barbiebutt22 said: "Thank you, you are an inspiration." @humberjulie commented: "Best seller. Well done. Saw you on loose woman such an amazing person. Go girl." @amandavaughan136 shared: "You are amazing thank you for you book, brought it for my grandchildren." @hannahprentice10 added: "Aww the kids are right you are cool. Thanks Leo Penelope and Felicity for allowing your mummy to do all she does she’s pretty cool."
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