I grew up with nothing and thought making money would make me happy but I’ve realised it’s not the be all and end all
PADDY MCGUINNESS ON THERAPY REVELATION
TELLY star Paddy Mcguinness has everything he dreamed of – fame, money, a nice house, not to mention a really Top job.
But after a therapist delved into his soul, the chirpy presenter realises material possessions alone do not hold the key to happiness.
Paddy, 44, talks about his therapy – to combat a fear of flying – in a revealing interview in which he says:
■ In real life he is quite the opposite of the boisterous Boltonian we know and love on TV.
■ Lockdown has led him, reluctantly, to try a new hobby... running.
■ But it didn’t go too well when he got outpaced by an 80-year-old!
Dad-of-three Paddy had therapy before starting as co-host on car show Top Gear last year.
He says: “I didn’t like flying and I thought, ‘There’s no two ways about it, this job involves a lot of travel.’
ANXIETY
“So I went to The Priory up near me and it amazed me because I always thought you went there if you had an addiction, because that’s all I’ve ever heard about it.
“I went in for one thing, but over the sessions all this other stuff that tied into that anxiety about flying came out, which he tapped into.
“I’d never thought about it and would never think in a million years it would have come up. It wasn’t a quick fix, it went on for a few months actually, but it was amazing.
“Because I’m from a working class area, everyone I knew didn’t have a pot to p*** in, but they’d always make you laugh and they always saw the funny side of everything.
“So before I’d seen this therapist, if you’d said, ‘You need therapy’, I’d have been like, ‘Please, I’ve got a nice house, I’ve got a nice life’, because that’s how you judge everything.
“Especially from a background where you’ve got nothing, you feel, ‘I’d like a nice car, I’d like a nice house and I’d like nice clothes’, that’s what you think when you’re younger.
“And you get all those things and you think to yourself, ‘Oh right, life’s great’. But it’s only when you see someone who taps into other stuff you realise, actually, that’s not the be-all and end-all.”
Paddy – famed for TV comedy Phoenix Nights and his “No likey, no lighty” catchphrase on dating show Take Me Out – also reveals he is a quiet person at heart.
He continues: “I am quite a solitary person, funnily enough.
“I don’t know if it’s because the job involves talking a lot and smiling on telly and all that stuff.
“When I come home, sometimes my wife will think I’m having an off day and I’m not, I just like to be quiet.
“It’s just me and I’ve always been like that. I don’t know if it’s because my mum brought me up on her own and my older brother and everyone around me had moved out by then.
“Because I was the youngest and
I had that alone time in the house, maybe I’m just comfortable with that. I’ve always been quite solitary, even though I have this job where you’re in front of people all the time.”
Paddy grew up in Bolton, Lancs. He worked in the Warburtons bread factory, scraping dough off machines, then at a leisure centre as a lifeguard and receptionist.
He carried on working there until filming the second series of Phoenix Nights with his comedy pal Peter
Kay. The pair also starred in Max and Paddy’s Road To Nowhere. And Paddy admits he “had no idea I’d ever be able to make a career out of having a laugh”.
He has given fans plenty of giggles down the years, sometimes alongside funnyman Keith Lemon and, lately,
I am quite solitary... funnily enough, I just like to be quiet
MOTORMOUTH PADDY ON LIFE OFF SCREEN
with some hilarious – and at times daring – escapades with Top Gear pals Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris.
Confirmation of his status as a TV treasure came when he co-hosted Sport Relief and The Big Night In telethon on BBC1.
A keen footballer and gym goer, Paddy reveals he reluctantly took up jogging to keep fit during the lockdown.
He says: “I found myself jogging. It was not good!
“I’ve got mates that go, ‘Oh I’ve not had my run today’ and
I’m like, ‘What? Not had a run? Deal with it!’ But it is mad. Afterwards, I do feel all right. As I’m running... horrendous. After... lovely.
SPRINT
“The other day there was a bloke of about 80 in front of me running and I thought, ‘I’ll just sprint past this old lad and give him the ‘Well done, keep going’. But I couldn’t get near him!”
Paddy and wife Christine, 32, live in a €3million mansion in Prestbury, Cheshire, with their twins Penelope and Leo, seven, and daughter Felicity, four. All three kids have autism and Paddy admits it is “very, very difficult”. In 2018, there was a rocky spell when Paddy enjoyed a night out with All Saints star Nicole Appleton, 45.
But model Christine told recently how lockdown is good for the marriage – because they’re both at home for the first time.
She said: “Stuff we used to bicker about was always work and who was having the kids, whereas now that’s not happening, we’re absolutely fine.
“We’re in the same boat for the first time, equal, both stay-at-home parents. And no one’s going anywhere.”