Celebrity Masterchef star Christine McGuinness shared a tear-jerking tale from her past, where she broke down in tears in a supermarket.
The 36-year-old, who was knocked out of Celebrity Masterchef in the first round, has been candid about her battles with food in the past. She even admitted to fearing moving in with her ex Paddy McGuinness due to her eating disorder.
And her tell-all book ‘Christine McGuinness: A Beautiful Nightmare’, she recounted how her food struggles were also felt with her twins.
Mum to three autistic kids, Felicity and twins Leo and Penelope, Christine struggled with leaving them at nursery. She recalls a particularly distressing incident involving her son Leo’s specific dietary needs.
Christine wrote: “I remember on one occasion, I’d dropped them off at nursery. At this stage, I’d never even left the car park. At the time, Leo would only eat this one type of butter, and we’d run out. I was terrified that if I didn’t get this butter, Leo wouldn’t eat his toast.”
She continued, detailing the desperate search that ensued: “And it’s ‘true’ he wouldn’t have. For the first time, I left the twins at nursery while I drove to three different supermarkets on the hunt for this bl***y butter. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I cried my eyes out in the middle of the supermarket.
(Image: BBC)
“Now when I think back, alarm bells should have been ringing. That’s not normal. But for me, I was just doing anything I could to get my child to eat and I’d do it again tomorrow if I had to.”
Over time, Christine felt more comfortable talking to staff about the twins’ speech and the difficulties they faced in understanding their own names.
She described how other kids would run into their parents’ arms, but the twins “seemed oblivious to the rest of the world”. Christine said they’d spin objects, do things they did “as tiny babies”, such as drinking bottles and wearing nappies and wouldn’t play with certain toys, like Play-Doh, sand or slime.
Christine didn’t view her children’s behaviour as “any different”, but she started noticing that when the kids were in nursery, they would play with toys differently.
(Image: mrscmcguinness/Instagram)
She said other children play with a toy car by rolling it along the floor, but Leo and Penelope would spin the wheel repeatedly or examine how the car had been made.
She wrote: “And before I knew it, we were sitting around a table with eight different adults from different sectors of child support, preparing them to go and see this paediatrician. Still, no one said along the way, ‘The reason we’re doing this is because they’re autistic’.”
In 2021, Christine, who is a campaigner for autism awareness, revealed she had also been diagnosed with the condition.
The TV star was diagnosed after she and her ex-husband, comedian Paddy McGuinness, were invited to meet Sir Simon Baron-Cohen at Cambridge University. Christine scored 36 out of 50 on an AQ (Autism Spectrum Quotient) questionnaire, a self-administered test that measures the degree to which people display traits of autism, according to Embrace Autism.
Despite parting ways in 2022 after 11 years of marriage, the former Real Housewives of Cheshire star and her TV presenter ex-husband continue to share their Cheshire home and maintain a cordial relationship.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
