Christine McGuinness has told how she’s planning to take her three children abroad for their second ever foreign holiday – as she embraces life at 35.
The reality TV star, who celebrated her birthday today with a cheeky Instagram birthday video of her in a raunchy outfit complete with tassels and a cake, said she planned to focus more on her three children with TV star ex Paddy, 49.
Speaking ahead of today’s milestone – and in reference to a comment she made on last week’s Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism documentary – she told Mail Online: ‘My plan is to try to turn up for my life this year.
‘I feel quite limitless and excited.
‘I really want to just focus on saying “yes” to more opportunities but also to spending extra time with the children to try to push their boundaries a little bit more.’
Positive thinking: Christine McGuinness has told how she’s planning to take her three children abroad for their second ever foreign holiday – as she embraces life at 35
Family; Christine shares nine year-old twins Penelope and Leo, and Felicity, seven – who, like her, have autism – with ex-husband Paddy McGuinness, 49
Speaking about nine year-old twins Penelope and Leo, and Felicity, seven, who, like her, have autism, Christine said: ‘I want to make sure their needs are met.
‘I say every year that I want to take them abroad but I am so determined this year to take them abroad.
‘We’ve done it once before, but it was a couple of years ago and then lockdown happened.
‘We’ve got some lovely memories from a couple of days in Spain.
‘I’m looking at somewhere similar, in Europe, like Spain. I don’t know how they’ll cope on a flight for too long.
‘I’ve been thinking about a villa but I’ve not made up my mind.
‘If we go to a hotel we’ll get more of a holiday experience with some water slides. It’s just trying to figure out how much I can push their boundaries without doing too much.’
She added: ‘I want to prepare them for getting older and just to support them in becoming as independent as possible.’
Family: Christine told MailOnline of her children: ‘I say every year that I want to take them abroad but I am so determined this year to take them abroad’
Speaking as part of a new campaign led by Vanish, in partnership with charity Ambitious About Autism, Christine added: ‘I know I’m a good mum – I’ve always wanted to be a mum and it’s the one thing I’ve always been confident in.
‘I’ll always look on the bright side. I’m not thinking “Oh other families get to go on holidays with their children all the time and we don’t get to do that”.
‘I don’t have that mindset at all. I’m more “let’s keep going, keep pushing, and when they do, do something we really get to enjoy it.”
‘And I think I’m really lucky because of all the things I get to celebrate with them. Their achievements are smaller, but when they do something new I see it as something to really celebrate.’
She added: ‘Since I’ve been diagnosed the best thing was being able to explain to them that nothing is going to hold them back. They see that mummy is independent and mummy goes to work.’
Marking the milestone: The reality TV star celebrated her birthday today with a cheeky Instagram birthday video of her in a raunchy outfit complete with tassels and a cake
Christine – who separated from Paddy last year but still lives and co-parents with him – said: ‘We are family and we always will be.’
But she insists dating isn’t on her radar.
She said: ‘I don’t think I hear too many good stories when it comes to dating.
‘A lot of messages I get ask “can I take you for a dinner?” “Can I take you for a drink?”
‘And for me, that’s my worst nightmare!,’ she laughs.
‘I always think, if they knew anything about me at all they wouldn’t ask me to do those things but that seems to be a standard one-liner and it’s absolutely not for me – it’s not something I’m thinking of. Any free time will be for me – I want to go for yoga or a walk!’
Candid: Christine previously revealed her three children still do not know she and their father Paddy McGuinness have split up (pictured in January 2019)
Christine’s latest Vanish campaign is also something she hopes will contribute towards raising awareness of autism in kids, as her documentary has recently done.
According to Vanish, 1 in 3 girls and non-binary people first thought they might be autistic because of an attachment to a particular object or item of clothing.
After years of being misunderstood, Christine can now make sense of her own childhood.
She said: ‘Since the documentary I’ve had literally thousands of emails – I’m still going through them – from women and families who say they can relate.
‘It’s so often not the obvious thing that you struggle with.
On air: Christine has fronted her own documentary Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism
‘Ever since I was young the feeling of clothes was always something that had a big impact.
‘I remember doing a modelling shoot when I was much younger and I said to the photographer that the clothes felt scratchy. She pretty much said just get on with it and that has stayed with me – I have been able to. But for me, I definitely have my go-to clothes that make me feel really safe and comfortable. My main one is a soft grey hoodie. For my kids, it’s soft pyjamas.’
As part of the campaign a new free exhibition called ‘Me, My Autism and I’ will open at London’s Oxo Tower next week, charting the stories of 12 young autistic girls and non-binary people and the must-have clothes that help make their world more comfortable.
Christine has partnered with Vanish who are working with the charity Ambitious about Autism to launch Me, My Autism & I – a campaign to help raise awareness on the impact that living with autism has on girls and non-binary people.
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