Christine McGuinness, model and wife of comic Paddy McGuinness, is no stranger to the spotlight. She began her career as a teenager, when she won beauty pageants and went on to be crowned Miss Commonwealth at just 19-years-old.
It was the now 34-year-old's profession that led her to meet husband Paddy, who she has been married to for 11 years. The pair met while Christine was doing a fashion show for Cricket at a Liverpool Tennis Tournament. The loved-up couple have three children together; eight-year-old twins Penelope and Leo and six-year-old Felicity.
But life hasn't always been glamourous for the model - Christine, who has appeared in The Real Housewives of Cheshire, started her life in the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool before moving to Halewood where she spent years on a council estate.
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She also developed anorexia at the age of eight, spending secondary school without eating a proper meal. Christine was also sexually assaulted as a teenager.
More recently, Christine discovered she was autistic - as are all three of her children. Christine appeared in the BBC documentary Our Family and Autism, which followed her and Paddy over many months as they learn more about the condition. The couple also met other parents, experts, and people on the autism spectrum, including footballer Paul Scholes, who has a 16-year-old non-verbal autistic son.
The model told the Manchester Evening News in November that her diagnosis came as 'such a huge relief.' She said: "When I got the diagnosis, I can honestly say it was such a huge relief. Just to know there was a reason why I felt this way and why I struggled with certain things. It’s really helped me, my husband to understand autism a lot more, it’s helped me when it comes to work, and in everyday life.”
Just months after learning she had autism, Christine was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - better known as ADHD. The condition includes symptoms such as being restless and having trouble concentrating.
Christine told the Daily Star : "I’ve now been diagnosed with ADHD, autism and dyspraxia. Knowledge is key. If you know the situation, you’re able to deal with it. So getting a diagnosis has really opened up my life. It’s given me so much more opportunity to understand why I was the way I was."
The reality star is taking part in new ITV show The Games from Monday, May 9 - and said the prospect of doing live TV in a stadium full of people was 'overwhelming' and petrifying. She said: “It’s sensory overload anxiety times a thousand. No one is feeling great about it being on telly and the place being full. For me it’s just an awful lot more and it takes over – I will panic.”
But Christine, who was a recluse for eight years, hopes by taking part in The Games she will show her children that their diagnoses do not have to hold them back, reports the Mirror. She said: "I want them to know they can do anything. I don’t want them to ever think autism can hold them back, I want them to believe they can do whatever they put their minds to."
