Christine McGuinness's autobiography, A Beautiful Nightmare, is full of revelations and in the latest excerpts, serialised by The Mirror, the mum of three has confirmed she has been diagnosed as autistic just like her three children.
Christine, who shares twins Penelope and Leo, eight, and five year old Felicity with husband and TV presenter Paddy McGuinness, said there have been “little hints” throughout her life that she is autistic and more like her children than she “ever could have imagined”.
“My issues with food, my social struggles, my indecisiveness,” the 33 year old penned. “The way I float through life reminds me of how my eldest daughter Penelope is. It all makes sense now.
“And as much as I’m not totally surprised by this news, it’s still been emotional for me to accept, but it’s quite a relief as well.”
Christine was diagnosed by Sir Simon Baron-Cohen at Cambridge University back in August after filling out an AQ questionnaire.
“The scale goes from zero to 50 and the average neurotypical person would score up to 15,” she told readers.
“While my husband was bang on average, mine was 36, which is high.”
And after a turbulent few weeks between finding out her results and receiving her official diagnosis, Sir Simon put her out of her “misery” and confirmed Christine is autistic.
And not just mildly – I’m quite high up the spectrum,” she said.
The mum of three goes on to explain that while she does feel that relief now, she also feels “really sad” for her younger self.
“Because of my inability to concentrate and my hatred for school, I left with no GCSEs,” Christine explained.
The TV star revealed her variety of symptoms include her food aversions, indecisiveness and struggles to socialise, but added there are many positives she can take away from her condition.
To get the latest email updates from WalesOnline straight to your inbox click here.
