Christine McGuinness felt "heartbroken" after seeing photos of her husband Paddy McGuinness with another women.
Christine McGuinness with her husband Paddy McGuinness
The 33-year-old model and wife of the 48-year-old ‘Top Gear’ presenter found it difficult to talk about her feelings after photos of the father of her three children - who has eight-year old twins Penelope and Leo, and daughter Felicity, five - surfaced of him arm-in-arm with All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, 46, in 2018, during a night out in Soho.
She told OK! magazine: “I couldn’t speak about it, because I was heartbroken and it was such a difficult time.”
But Christine has admitted the images were a “turning point” in her life.
She explained: “It was just before my 30th and my marriage was in a difficult place. But it really made a huge difference in my life. It made me look at what I want, it made me look at my marriage. It made me think, ‘I really don’t want this to fall apart, I want our family to stay together.' ”
The moment caused Christine to reflect on her desire for “independence” away from her role as a wife and mother.
She said: “It made me realise I wanted my independence back, to get up and go to work, and go out and try and socialise. I want my children to see me going to work.
“Paddy realised how much time he was spending away from home and that he needed to be at home more. He’s become such a better dad since then, because he’s really tried and put the effort in.
“And it wouldn’t be fair to always drag it up. I’ve never mentioned it since it happened.
“We got over it, we dealt with it. We never really spoke about it or argued about it, we just moved on.”
Along with this insight into her personal life - and that she threw up after seeing the snaps - the model made a number of revelations in her new book ‘Christine McGuinness: A Beautiful Nightmare’ .
The star bravely opened up about being raped as a teenager at a party, and revealed she had been diagnosed with autism in the summer - a condition that her three children also have, and which Christine has raised awareness about.
She said about the diagnosis: “It’s still been emotional for me to accept, but it’s a relief as well.”
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