Christine McGuinness has been diagnosed with ADHD.
Christine McGuinness has ADHD
The 34-year-old model revealed a few months ago she had been diagnosed with autism and she's now confirmed she also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which can cause people to be restless and impulsive.
Christine is relieved to have been given her diagnoses as they help her to understand herself better.
She told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: “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.”
Meanwhile, Christine - whose three children with husband Paddy McGuinness, eight-year-old twins Penelope and Leo and six-year-old daughter Felicity are also autistic - admitted she has been having "meltdowns" about taking part in 'The Games' on ITV this week because it will be filmed live in front of a stadium audience.
She told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “Physically I feel fine. But I do get quite emotional sometimes and it all gets a bit too much, so I’ve struggled with that.
“I don’t really feel tired at the end of the day, I’m active anyway. It’s just emotionally I’m drained. More so as it’s getting nearer and nearer thinking about it being on telly and so many people watching.
“Having to do it with a stadium full of people for me is so overwhelming and it petrifies me and as we’re getting closer I’m having meltdowns – it’s hard.
“It’s sensory overload anxiety times 1,000. 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 hopes to set an example to her kids by competing in various Olympic events alongside the likes of Kevin Clifton, Olivia Attwood, Chelcee Grimes, and Ryan Thomas on the show.
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.
“I need to try and lead by example and get on with it. It will be too much for them to come down with Paddy.
“I wouldn’t have walked in these rooms three years ago. I wouldn’t walk into a football stadium. I love Liverpool, but I’d never go and watch them. I’ve avoided situations. I was a recluse for eight years in my 20s.
“I did not go out and socialise and if I went to the shop I’d only go at one or two in the morning when it was quiet. Stuck to my own little bubble and life. I avoided weddings, birthdays and red carpets because I found it all too much. Had to turn up at my own!
“I didn’t understand that’s why I was like that, but when my children were diagnosed and going to therapy with them four times a week – I was like: ‘Oh my god, this is me’.
“My diagnosis has opened up my life and given me so much more opportunity to understand that’s why I was the way I was, and that I don’t need to be like that and I can go to the shop during the day.
“Knowledge is key, if you know what you’re dealing with you can deal with it. I am proud.”
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