Who is Paddy McGuinness’ wife Christine and how many children do they have?

CHRISTINE McGuinness was a regular fixture on ITV reality show and is now set to strip off on telly for charity on ITV’s Strictly The Real Full Monty.

But what else has the former Miss Liverpool done, and how did she meet her TV host husband Paddy McGuinness?

Christine McGuinness is getting her kit off for cancer awareness

Who is Christine McGuinness?

Christine Martin was born in Merseyside in 1988.

Taking on the world of beauty pageants, in 2007 she bagged the Miss Commonwealth title and won Miss Liverpool at the tender age of 18.

Soon after, she modelled for Liverpool-based boutique Cricket in her bikini at the Liverpool Tennis Tournament.

It was there that she met TV funny-man and Phoenix Nights star Paddy, 48, and the two have been together ever since.

As well as her modelling work, Christine is a regular on TV and appeared on several seasons of The Real Housewives of Cheshire before departing in 2020.

In December 2021, Christine returned to ITV to appear on Strictly The Real Monty, a charity show which sees stars get their kit off in the hopes of reminding people to get potentially life saving cancer checks.

How many kids does Christine McGuinness have?

Christine, 33, and Paddy have three children.

Twins Leo and Penelope – who were born in 2013 and Felicity – who was born in 2016.

After giving birth to Felicity, Christine used social media to proudly show off her three-stone weight loss in three months.

Christine and Paddy share three children

She also tracked both pregnancies on Instagram and her bid to keep healthy while they came to term.

Before hitting the gym, she wrote online: “I can’t exercise for at least 6 weeks after my C-section but I’m not in any rush. Recovery is key.”

On Leo and Penelope’s fourth birthday, Christine revealed that the twins were on the autistic spectrum and struggled with social interaction and communication skills.

The devoted mum made the revelation through a poem and reassured them that they were “totally unique and fantastically awesome” regardless.

She and Paddy later spoke more openly about the revelation, and Paddy explained:  “We’d been to see a paediatrician and at the end she said quite casually, ‘I’m absolutely certain both the children have autism’.”

Christine, who immediately started “grieving for [her] ‘normal’ children”, explained: “I was so angry with her.

“How dare she say that about my children, having only seen them for a few hours?

“It was the first I’d ever thought of them having autism – even if, looking back, it was obvious.”

In November, Christine has revealed that she has now also been diagnosed as being “high up” on the autism spectrum.

A 2021 documentary – Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family And Autism – follows the family’s journey to understanding the condition in greater depth.

When did Christine and Paddy get married?

Christine married Question Of Sport host Paddy in 2011 at Thornton Manor in Wirral after three years together.

In 2018, Paddy opened up about the difficulties of raising children with autism and said it was “a wonder” the pair were still together.

He broke down in tears during an emotional television interview as he revealed they “can’t do normal things as a couple”.

Speaking on John Bishop: In Conversation With…, Paddy said: “It’s very, very, very, very difficult, you know any parent with children with any kind of special needs is very difficult.

“Some days it’s a wonder how we’re still together, me and Christine, because you can’t sort of do the normal things that you would as a couple.

“I can count on one hand the amount of times we’ve been on a night out together, because you can’t just have a babysitter.

“You can’t just say “I’ll drop ’em off at me relatives to look after’ ’cos it’s not like that.”