Christine McGuiness explains how being autistic affects her relationship with Paddy

16 November 2021, 10:40

Christine McGuinness reveals how Paddy reacted to her autism diagnosis

By Heart

@thisisheart

Christine McGuinness was diagnosed with autism at the age of 33.

Christine McGuinness has opened up about how being autistic has affected her relationship with her husband Paddy.

The 33-year-old TV personality recently announced that she had been diagnosed as autistic, after there had been 'little hints' throughout her life.

And during an appearance on Loose Women yesterday, she discussed how the condition has affected her life and relationship.

She said she feels that she had to "learn how to behave" and that she has had to learn how to understand jokes, something that was made extra difficult as she is "living with a comedian".

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Christine said that she would often be “pretending to laugh” and waiting for other people to laugh to make sure a joke had been told.

Opening up about how being autistic affected her relationship with Paddy, Christine said that she would sometimes hide aspects of her personality from him.

She said: "I didn’t realise I do that in front of my husband as well. There are things I do that he’s got no idea about. The hotel rooms in particular.

"I’ve always been afraid to say it out loud because I know it seems odd and it seems different. Or if I go to a hotel room I will rearrange the furniture, I’ll take pictures off the wall. I’d like a really plain room.

"There’s a hotel in London that I really like because it’s just a plain white room. There’s no distractions. I don’t like busy carpets or busy curtains. I just like everything quite plain."

Christine added: "We had our first date night in over two years, because, you know, we find it difficult to leave the children.

"We went to the Pride of Britain Awards a couple of weeks ago and as soon as we walked into the hotel there was so much that I wanted to move with the cushions and everything. It was all ‘busy’. The carpet was really busy.

"But I just walked in and kind of looked around and said nothing and stayed quiet because… it is exhausting. And then going to the awards itself, I’ve become really good now at going in and smiling and saying hi to everyone and I do think there is part of me that is enjoying it now.

"Now that I’m doing it more and more, it’s becoming easier and I’m pushing myself to do it because I want my children to go out and have fun and I don’t want autism to hold any of us back."

Christine opened up about her diagnosis in her new book Christine McGuinness: A Beautiful Nightmare, in which she said that Paddy suspected she was autistic before she was diagnosed.

She wrote: "I wasn’t sure how he’d react, but when I told him he said he expected it and he’d suspected I was autistic for years – he never thought to tell me.

"Patrick was always conscious that I was a bit different and had my little quirks, but he never understood exactly what it was. There are times when he gets really frustrated with me, for example when it takes me hours to get ready.

"Not even when I’m getting fully glammed up, but simple things like picking between two plain T-shirts, and not being able to decide which one to wear."