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Paddy McGuinness has reportedly called it quits with his wife Christine after nearly 11 years of marriage. The news of their separation was announced in a joint statement posted on the couple’s respective Instagram stories:
“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.”
In the statement, the pair confirmed that they had parted ways “a while ago,” but their main priority still is to love and support their three children:
“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 make but we’re moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children.”
The now-former couple also mentioned that they will continue to be a family, and asked fans to respect their privacy:
“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.”
The news of Christine and Paddy McGuinness’ separation comes after the former denied split rumors during an interview with OK Magazine earlier this month. She said at the time:
“We’re really good, honestly. We have had difficult times but when I look back at our marriage and see where we are now, I think, ‘Wow, you know, we’ve done alright!’ I couldn’t ask for anything more from him. I’m so grateful. I’m happy, I’ve got no complaints.”
Christine and Paddy McGuinness tied the knot in June 2011 and are parents to three children, Felicity (6) and twins Leo and Penelope (9).
Looking back at Christine and Paddy McGuinness’ relationship
Christine and Paddy McGuinness were reportedly introduced through a mutual friend. They first met at the 2007 Liverpool Tennis Tournament where Christine worked as a model. The duo started dating shortly after and got engaged in 2010.
They married the following year and organized a lavish ceremony at Thornton Manor in Cheshire to celebrate the occasion. Comedian and actor Peter Kay served as Paddy’s best man while Rick Astley performed for the 200 guests present at the venue.
The couple welcomed their twin children Leo and Penelope in 2013, and their third child Felicity was born in 2016.
Nearly two years later, Christine and Paddy McGuinness' relationship hit its first rough patch after the former was photographed having a nightout with All Saints' star Nicole Appleton.
Shortly after the sighting, Christine posted a series of cryptic messages on social media. The first message read:
“When you realise you deserve so much more... that’s not a bad thing.”
It was followed up with another Instagram post stating:
“I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right. You believe lies so that you will eventually learn to trust no one but yourself and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
Christine opened up about the incident in her autobiography, A Beautiful Nightmare, which was published in 2021. She revealed that she was devastated after seeing the photos:
“It was a bit of a heartbroken moment. I was absolutely devastated by these pictures. Patrick had spent weeks in London. He was filming The Keith & Paddy Picture Show and was due to come back, but rang me to tell me he was exhausted. ‘Stay down there,’ I told him, calmly. ‘Get your work done and come home when you're ready.’”
However, the Real Housewives of Cheshire star eventually decided to forgive her husband, especially for the sake of their children:
“For that to happen, I had to brush it under the carpet. I haven't mentioned it since. We've never spoken about it really, and I've certainly never talked about it publicly before.”
That same year, Christine also told ITV’s Loose Women that she was “happier than ever” with Paddy following the troubles in their marriage.
However, in 2021, Paddy McGuinness also opened up about their marriage in his autobiography, My Lifey, and took quite an opposite stance. He revealed that he shared no common interests with his wife:
“We don't like the same films, TV programmes or food, we wouldn't have a night out together, and we annoy each other most of the time. I hardly know any of her mates, and aside from living in the same house we have totally separate lives.”
Christine McGuinness spoke about the couple’s 15-year age gap during one of her interviews and said that the significant age difference does not affect their married life:
“The only time we notice the age difference is when someone else points it out.”
Meanwhile, she also called Paddy “immature” for his age while stating that she often acts as the mature one in the relationship:
“I've always been quite old for my age whereas Patrick is immature. We meet somewhere in the middle.”
Autism diagnosis
All three of Christine and Paddy McGuinness' children were diagnosed with autism before the former getting diagnosed herself. The pair then appeared on the BBC documentary Our Family And Autism to discuss their life after the diagnosis.
Paddy revealed that the diagnosis was “hard to come to terms with” even though he had immense love for his children. He said:
“The early days when we knew nothing about autism were really tough. The kids didn't sleep; they'd have meltdowns at loud noises and bright lights and nothing we did helped. We kept the curtains closed and hardly let anyone into the house."
Split rumors resurface
Speculation about fresh issues between Christine and Paddy McGuinness surfaced once again this year after fans noticed that the couple had stopped posting photos on social media after February.
Last month, they returned from separate holidays, and rumors suggested that Paddy had allegedly removed a tattoo he previously dedicated to his wife.
Christine appeared on ITV show Lorraine last week and discussed the highs and lows of her marriage to Paddy McGuinness:
“Marriages go through up and downs anyway, all marriages, especially long ones like ours – 15 years together, it's not always going to be plain sailing but we're trying to deal with things as privately as possible and we both want to be there to support the children and give them an amazing summer.”
During the interview, she also mentioned that the couple had decided to prioritize raising their children amid their personal issues:
“We're going away on a family holiday next week and we're really excited about it and they are always going to be our focus and they're the most important things to us.”
Following months of speculation, Christine and Paddy McGuinness have officially confirmed their split on social media. However, they are still living in the same house and focusing on parenting their children.
