KUDOS TO CRUSADING CHRISTINE
RUTH: Christine McGuinness is married to telly presenter Paddy McGuinness and together they are parents to three young children – eight-year-old twins Leo and Penelope and four-year-old Felicity.
Most kids are a handful but these kids bring the added responsibility of being autistic. Christine and Paddy have learnt a lot about the condition and themselves over the past eight years. They’ve had no choice.
Paddy has a packed schedule made more demanding because of the foreign travel Top Gear demands. That often leaves Christine as the main carer.
So, like me, you’re thinking: ‘They’ll earn a ton of money so they’ll have plenty of help.’ But Christine doesn’t want it that way. Her own mother didn’t have help, so why should she? Well, I’d say her mum didn’t have the demands of having three autistic children. Knowing that makes me admire her so much.
As a woman, I know the extra pressures that being part of a celebrity couple in the public eye places on your shoulders. Look at Christine’s Instagram account and you would be forgiven for thinking she was a full-time model. She does indeed do that, but only on top of her duties as a mum and I love her more because she can still retain that part of her life.
Meanwhile, she crusades for autism to be recognised and people with it or parents of children with it to be treated fairly.
In a recent TV programme, Christine talked about having to listen to people whispering, ‘What on earth is wrong with that kid?’ My answer would be nothing much with a mum as caring, protective and aware as Christine – but something more needs to be done to get the rest of us talking about autism, not pretending it doesn’t exist.
‘I know the pressures of being a celeb couple’ Ruth