Christine McGuinness has made a heartbreaking confession about her marriage to her estranged husband Paddy.
The former couple, who share three children, called it quits last year after 11 years of marriage.
The TV personalities still live together for the sake of their three children – who all have autism and rely on routine.
Christine was diagnosed with autism last year, and heartbreakingly admitted she had been “pretending to be someone else” during her relationship with Paddy.
“I’d become expert at playing a role to try to fit in,” the 34-year-old said.
“I was often alone and missed a lot of school before I left at 14.”
“My mum entered me for pageants to try to help with my confidence and I’d morph into a different character to copy what other girls were doing, ending up playing somebody who wasn’t me at all.”
“I’d always wanted to be a wife so once I met Patrick, I fully went into ‘perfect wife’ mode,” Christine continued. “You know, ‘I’ll stay in, I’ll cook and clean and make sure I’m the best wife I can be.'”
“I was always pretending to be something else rather than simply just me. That’s all part
of masking.”
Speaking about her current life with Paddy, whom she still lives with, Christine said: “I want the children to be able to see Mummy and Daddy getting along so we still have family days out and live in the same home.”
“We’re kind of in and out with our own busy schedules but we get on.”
“We have a bond for life with the children and I’ll always look on Patrick as family. We don’t want any dramatic changes overnight so it’s going to be a slow process moving forward.”
“We don’t really know what the future holds,” Christine continued. “Our priority is for the children to remain comfortable and happy in a loving family.”
Christine and Paddy announced their split on July 22; however, it is understood that the pair separated in June, and that Christine had been “miserable” after “spending weeks” hiding the news.
In a joint social media statement, they wrote: “We hadn’t planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but after the lack of privacy surrounding our 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 male but we’re 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.”
“We hope this now draws a line under anymore unwanted and unnecessary intrusion into our private life.”
“Although we work in the public eye we ask kindly if you could respect our wishes for privacy on this matter. We’ll be making no further comment,” they added.
