Paddy McGuinness has been spotted celebrating his 49th birthday at The Ivy restaurant in Manchester following his split from wife Christine. The TV presenter was joined by hockey star pal Sam Quek, his colleague on the long-running BBC One gameshow, and other friends to mark his big day.
The Top Gear host from Bolton, who took over from Sue Barker as A Question of Sport presenter last year, was still wearing his wedding ring as he headed to the swanky Spinningfields venue. Paddy was seen arriving at 8pm and left the celebrations at 2am.
Father-of-three Paddy looked relaxed in a white T-shirt and cargo trousers. The former Phoenix Nights star recently revealed he had split from his wife Christine after 11 years of marriage.
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As the birthday messages came flooding in for the star he shared an adorable picture on Instagram of the handmade cards he had received from his children. "Best part of the day!" he wrote. "Birthdays, Christmas, Fathers Day, I love a homemade card off the kids. Thank you Leo, Penelope and Felicity."
Paddy and former The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Christine confirmed to fans that they had gone their separate ways 'some time ago' in a statement last month. The couple opened up about the 'difficult decision' to separate but said: "Our main focus as always is to continue loving and supporting our children." They also added that "we'll always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily in our family home together."
Over the weekend Paddy shared a very candid clip to social media as he spoke to the camera during a quick shower. With his bare torso on display, Paddy's video began with him declaring "Welcome to a very special shower news: the drought edition."
He revealed that his original birthday plans, with thoughts of his children having splashing time with a paddling pool, had been shelved. "I thought I'd get in the garden with the kids, fill the paddling pool up and whack on the barbie, but obviously all that's out of the window now," he said.
And on his birthday on Sunday (August 14) he referenced model Christine for the first time since the split in a video in which he completed a workout challenge with a press-up for each of his birthdays. He said: "It’s my birthday. Oh-ho yes! And what better way to celebrate, than by doing some press ups…on my own."
He added: "To be honest I can think of better ways to celebrate. But to be fair, Christine and the kids have given me an hour off, to do a little bit of birthday training."
Dressed in a black T-shirt and jogging bottoms he said: "Here we go! 49 for 49," before taking to the floor in his home gym.. But Paddy actually beat his goal and performed 51 press-ups instead which he jokingly said would mean he could reuse the video for his next two birthdays.
In a message posted to both of their Instagram Stories Paddy and Christine said: "We hadn't planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but after the lack of privacy surrounding our life personal life, we feel left with no other option but to clarify. A while ago we took the difficult decision to separate but our main focus as always is to continue loving and supporting our children.
"This was not an easy decision to make but we are moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children. We'll always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily in our family home together."
They went on: "We hope this now draws a line under anymore unwanted intrusion into our our private life. Although we work in the public eye we ask kindly if you could respect our wishes for privacy on this matter."
In December the couple left viewers in tears with their emotional documentary Our Family and Autism aired on BBC One. They told their story as parents of twins Leo and Penelope, nine, and five-year-old Felicity who were all diagnosed with autism.
The cameras followed Christine as she was also diagnosed with autism. After the TV show the pair encouraged others to 'never give up' after making more progress with their children.
On one outing treated them a meal at a cafe, something which they never thought would be possible. Paddy wrote proudly on his Instagram: "This made me so happy! It probably doesn’t seem like much, a few chips and some cake with the kids but this is something I never thought we’d get to experience as a family.
And he added: "Going out for something to eat would either end in a meltdown, food not being touched or most of the time we wouldn’t even make it to a table!" He went on to explain: "Yesterday we went to a small cafe and sat together as a family. The kids got stuck into chips, cake, pop and sat happily for an hour…that was when the cake ran out.
"I’m posting this to let other families like ours know (especially the Dad’s) that it can and will happen for you too. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many weekends end in tears, no matter how desperate and unhappy you feel, it will happen! When it does, trust me, it’ll all be worth it. x"
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