LOVE HURTS
Christine McGuinness breaks down in tears as she reveals real reason she split from husband Paddy
CHRISTINE McGuinness broke down in tears as she revealed the real reason behind her split from husband Paddy on BBC documentary Unmasking My Autism.
The model - who parted ways with her TV presenter husband Paddy, 49, last year after 15 years together - said she stayed in her marriage far longer than she should have because she "doesn't like change".
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Back in November 2021 Christine, 34, revealed she had been diagnosed with autism - just like her three children Penelope and Leo, nine, and six-year-old Felicity with ex Paddy, 49.
She was then told that she also suffers with ADHD.
Christine visited Kings College in London, to speak about how the ADOS test, which is a standardised assessment to test autism, could be improved to spot early signs in girls.
The doctors explained that some women with autism often have a desire to be liked and therefore remain in unhealthy and violent relationships.
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Christine then recalled a toxic relationship that she had before she married Top Gear presenter Paddy.
Christine admitted: “So I experienced that. I experienced that a long long time ago and I didn’t speak up.
"I wonder if I never said it because I was autistic. You know, was it me? Would a neurotypical woman have said something, was it my fault?
"But yeah, it’s something I experienced when I was a teenager and then when I met my husband that was a time where I felt very safe. And I wonder if hat’s why I stayed in that relationship for 15 years."
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Getting choked up, Christine broke down in tears and said: "And I know being a single woman, being a single parent is an extremely vulnerable place to be, and it petrifies me, it absolutely petrifies me but that’s life."
"Sorry I don’t want to get upset," she said as she wiped away her tears.
The doctor then asked: “Do you feel more able to have left after your diagnosis?”
Clearly emotional, Christine replied: “Yeah, because I know that I’ve stayed in a place where I was probably unhappy because it was safe and I don’t like change and ultimately I wanted to keep my family together.”
Christine said she was on a "mission" to reinvent herself following her break-up and was "shedding her old identity".
She told viewers: "I was only 19 when I met Patrick and for the last 15 years my role has been wife and mum.
"When I got diagnosed, I set out on a personal mission to figure out who I was, because I’ve played that many different roles in life and not really knowing which part of it was actually me, or who or which one was mostly me.
"So I’m clearing out because I literally had a wardrobe full of clothes to wear how I thought I was supposed to look and you’re not actually supposed to look like anything or anyone other than yourself.
"I’ve also separated with my husband in the process and I’m just, yeah, shedding I suppose, shedding my old identity, trying to figure out what my new one is."
Christine admitted that being single and dating again "petrifies" her.
"Things like my marriage for example, that’s massive. I’ve been with my husband since I was 19-years-old, so I’ve only ever had this one man in my life for 15 years," she went on.
"I can’t imagine living with anybody else, I don’t know what it’s like to date. I can’t remember being single.
"And I’ve found myself in this position now where I don’t really know what to do with it, but, then I am just going into a new chapter, I suppose, on my own, which is petrifying for someone who doesn’t like change.
"That is another journey that I’m going to have to figure out how to be single. It’s changed everything."
The model then opened up about how she is juggling her autistim and her single life and said she has been forced to take “more responsibility” since her split.
"Starting life on my own is scary - I know I struggle with making decisions and I find paperwork really overwhelming," the mum-of-three explained.
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"So I am having to learn to take more responsibility.
"As hard as it is coming to terms with this new perspective on my life, I’m lucky to have got my diagnosis."
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