Paddy and Christine McGuinness are loving parents to their three children, eight-year-old twins Penelope and Leo, and five-year-old Felicity, all of whom have also been diagnosed with autism.
Recently, the couple launched a new podcast, Table Talk, which aims to unearth the true realities families with seriously ill or disabled children face.
During their most recent episode of Table Talk Paddy and Christine reveal that they haven’t yet told their children about autism, which Christine was also diagnosed with as an adult last year, during the filming of her and Paddy’s documentary.
“Our oldests are eight and we’ve not mentioned it to them yet, not for any other reason just because we feel as though they’re happy enough at the minute,” Paddy explained, adding, “it might be a bit much for them so we’re sort of picking our moment.”
Speaking to Nicki on the podcast, a mum from Scotland who has a teenager with autism, she revealed that her son knew about his diagnosis from the very beginning, at four-years-of-age.
“It’s what works for you,” Nicki stated, adding, “Don’t ever condemn a family and don’t ever take anything personally”.
When Christine initially found out about her new diagnosis, she revealed that it didn’t exactly come as a total shock.
"We always thought it was genetic and it didn’t come as a shock to me that I got diagnosed,” she explained in an interview with OK! Magazine last November, adding, “When I was writing my autobiography, I could see so many similarities between me and my children that it was pretty evident.”
In Christine’s memoir, Christine McGuinness: A Beautiful Nightmare, she explains that this new diagnosis now makes a lot of sense, when thinking back on her childhood eating disorder and her struggles with socialising in school.
“I found school really overwhelming and the way people would hang around in little groups and make friendships, and I wasn’t really a part of anything. I was always quite a loner. I found the social side of school really difficult,” Christine told the publication.
Continuing, Christine said, “The best part of getting a diagnosis for me is that when I talk to the children about their autism, because we haven’t spoke to them about it yet, I’ll be able to tell them that Mummy’s doing OK and Mummy’s autistic too, and they’re just a bit like me.”
