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PADDY V PITBULL
Paddy McGuinness to face feared divorce lawyer dubbed ‘pitbull’ as Christine bids to stay in £4m mansion
The hotshot lawyer has even taken on divorce cases for royals in the past
TELLY’S Christine McGuinness is lining up a “Pitbull” celebrity divorce lawyer in her fight for a multimillion-pound settlement after her split from husband Paddy.
Model mum Christine is determined to remain in the £4million mansion she shared with former Question of Sport host Paddy.
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Catherine Bedford, 52 — who helped land a reported £31million pay-out for Ant McPartlin’s ex-wife, Lisa Armstrong — is due to represent Christine in London on Tuesday.
A source said: “Christine really wanted to work with a woman during her divorce and Catherine is one of the best in the business.
“Christine wants to stay in the house she’s lived in as a family for many years. She’s poured many hours of love, care and attention into it.
“It would be heartbreaking to have to leave the property after all this time and uproot her life.”
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Ms Bedford has had a considerable string of celebrity clients.
The Canadian-born hotshot is currently representing Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner in her divorce from US pop star Joe Jonas.
American media described her as a “Pitbull attorney”.
Previous clients include Dubai’s billionaire royal ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in his bitter three-year legal fight with ex-wife Princess Haya bint Hussein.
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Ms Bedford, 52, is a senior partner with top London law firm Harbottle and Lewis.
Its website says: “Depending on each client’s needs, Catherine’s approach is tailor made — whether that be successful negotiating outside of the court process or tough litigating within it.”
The website also says partners charge £535 an hour, but legal sources say Ms Bedford, named family lawyer of the year in 2022, is like to cost far more.
Christine, who won the Miss Liverpool title at 18, was 19 when comedian Paddy chatted her up at a bikini fashion show in 2007.
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They wed in 2011 and have three children — ten-year-old twins and a daughter of seven.
Christine, 35, and Paddy bought their six-bedroom Cheshire home for £2.1million in 2017.
It has appeared frequently in their social media posts, with Christine posing in the vast garden and by the large swimming pool.
The source said: “Christine is a working-class girl and this is her dream home. She doesn’t want to have to part with it.
“It’s already difficult enough to navigate a divorce without the stress of selling the property.
“The process has been a stressful one and Christine just wants what she feels she deserves and to move on with her life.
“There are lots of happy family memories in the house. She doesn’t want to start again somewhere new.”
She and former Take Me Out and Top Gear host Paddy, 50, announced their split in 2022.
Since the break-up Christine has spent time with 31-year-old footballer Chelcee Grimes, going on girls’ holidays and sharing a kiss at Winter Wonderland in London.
Christine detailed her desire for a stable family in her autobiography A Beautiful Nightmare.
She revealed how difficult her own upbringing was, with mum Joanne struggling to make ends meet after splitting from Christine’s heroin addict dad Johnny.
And she wrote: “I wanted to create the perfect family. I wanted a Mummy or Daddy at home with the children.
“I wanted them to be surrounded by love and laughter. Most people probably want that, but for me it was like an obsession.”
Christine, a regular cast member in ITV’s The Real Housewives of Cheshire in 2019, was diagnosed with autism in August 2021.
Before their split, the couple made a BBC documentary called Our Family And Autism.
Christine also published a book for autistic children and their families.
Last year she featured in BBC1 documentary Unmasking My Autism.
Paddy was in Channel 4’s Phoenix Nights in 2000 but his big break came in Take Me Out from 2010.
He filmed a pilot with the BBC last year for a mockumentary called Paddy — following his life as a comedian going through a split.
Christine declined to comment earlier tonight.
The Sun on Sunday approached Paddy for comment, along with Ms Bedford and Harbottle & Lewis.
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RISE TO RICHES
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COMEDIAN Paddy McGuinness is worth an estimated £7million after making a name for himself on a string of top-rated TV shows.
The star found fame in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights and hosting ITV dating show Take Me Out.
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He took over A Question Of Sport in 2021 and also earned £500,000 a year on Top Gear from 2018 to 2022 — but both Beeb shows are shelved.
Aside from other TV work, he has also raked it in from ad deals — but recently said he was going on a stand-up tour as the “money had run out.”
LAWYER IS A TOP DOG
CATHERINE Bedford is one of the toughest divorce lawyers in the business.
She helped Ant McPartlin’s ex Lisa Armstrong land a reported £31million in 2020 — more than half of his estimated £50million fortune at the time.
Ms Bedford, 52, studied law at Oxford University and is now a partner at top London legal firm Harbottle & Lewis where she heads up the family law team.
She won family law Lawyer of the Year in 2022 in Spear’s wealth management magazine’s awards.
Her firm’s website says her work “frequently involves high net worth individuals” — including CEOs, bankers, sports stars and entertainers”.
And the Legal 500 directory describes Ms Bedford as having a “formidable reputation”.
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