Christine McGuinness insists she and her estranged husband Paddy McGuinness will "always be family".
Christine McGuinness and her estranged husband Paddy McGuinness
The 35-year-old star and the 'Top Gear' presenter - who have twins Penelope and Leo, nine, and daughter Felicity, six, who all have autism - split last July after 11 years together, but she insisted they are all "living in a happy home".
Speaking on 'Lorraine', she said: "We want to keep things the same as much as possible for the children. I don't want anything to affect them. We are family, and we'll always be family and we're living in a happy home."
Christine was diagnosed with autism in 2021, and the star admitted it was a "huge relief".
She said: "It was a huge relief it answered a lot of questions and since then I'm understanding myself a lot more, life's better.
"I didn't realise everyone doesn't talk to themselves all day or rehearse conversations. I think you've got to prepare but apparently people have really casual conversations.
"I'm OK today as I know what I'm talking about but if the discussion went somewhere else, I would have to take a moment to think about it."
Christine recently told how she felt "heartbroken" after seeing photos of Paddy 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.”
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