Christine McGuinness burst into tears when husband Paddy McGuinness sent her an emotional message after she opened up about parenting their autistic children on Wednesday's Loose Women. The mum-of-three talked about the difficulties of being a parent to their autistic twins, Leo and Penelope, to support Loose Women's Autism Hour on World Mental Health Day. Paddy, the loveable star of Take Me Out, sent her a video message, saying: "I hope you have an amazing show, sorry I can't be with you but - as we know - if one of us is down there, the other one has to be up here doing the world's best relay with the kids. You are an amazing mother and an amazing wife, have a fantastic time."
Christine McGuinness crying on Loose Women
Christine had to wipe away tears as she told the panel: "I have to say he's amazing too. He's brilliant. He's so good. I find it easy with the children now - yes it's challenging - but I just manage it. But he struggled, and I think if you're doing what we're doing and you struggle it's ten times worse. For him, he does it because he has to because he loves the children." She continued to explain how Paddy found things difficult to cope with in the beginning, adding: "Getting his head around his children having a lifelong condition that we knew nothing about - nothing can prepare you for that and you've got to learn on the job. But he's doing absolutely amazingly. He only spoke about it for the first time recently and I think since he did that, he's opened up - I do think it is harder for men."
READ: Paddy McGuinness breaks down talking about his autistic children
Christine and her three beautiful children
Paddy shared his own experiences in a candid interview with John Bishop earlier in 2018, revealing: "It's very, very, very, very difficult, you know any parent with children with any kind of special needs is very difficult… With the autism, for me, the more I saw it and the more they had really bad days, I'd get so down, you know, I'd be like, depression and different things would wash over me." Penelope and Leo were diagnosed with autism back in 2017, and his two-year-old daughter Felicity is also showing signs of the condition. Christine has confirmed that the family will be making a documentary to explore autism in families and highlight the support needed.
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