Christine McGuinness opens up on why she didn't leave 'unhappy' Paddy marriage

Christine McGuinness has opened up about why she didn’t leave her ‘unhappy’ marriage to presenter Paddy McGuinness, having spoken out in a new BBC documentary.

The pair announced their split in July last year, having been together for 15 years and married for 11.

At the time, they said in a joint statement that their priority would ‘moving forward as the best parents’ they could be for their ‘three beautiful children’, explaining: "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.

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"A while ago we took the difficult decision to separate but our main focus as always is to continue loving and supporting our children.”

They said the decision had not been easy, but added: "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.”

Christine, 34, has now revealed why she had stayed in the relationship despite feeling ‘unhappy’, having spoken about what happened in a new BBC documentary called Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism, which explores the topic of women and girls with autism who go undiagnosed – as she had.

The model was diagnosed with autism at the age of 33, admitting she had ‘struggled’ throughout her life.

In the new programme, she explains how it was her autistic traits that kept her in the marriage as she finds ‘change’ particularly difficult.

Christine said: “I didn’t want my family to ever fall apart and that’s why I stayed married.

"As an autistic woman, I like to stay where I’m comfortable, I like things to stay the same."

She continued: “I understand myself better now because that’s where I was comfortable just knowing that it was me, Patrick and the children – but sometimes change has to happen.

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“You just have to deal with it in the best way possible.”

She said when she first met Paddy, he felt like a ‘very safe’ influence in her life.

The forthcoming documentary, which airs next week, also sees Christine discuss her eating disorder as a young girl and sexual abuse as a teenager.

She added: “I’m trying to not ‘people please’ as much, which is hard because that’s just naturally me. I hate the thought of upsetting anyone, it really upsets me, I feel it a lot.”

Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism airs on Wednesday 15 March on BBC One.