Christine McGuinness says that her autistic traits kept her in 'safe' marriage to Paddy

Christine McGuinness has revealed that she stayed in her marriage to TV presenter Paddy because it was "safe" and she "doesn’t like change" which she realised after being diagnosed with autism. The former Real Housewives of Cheshire star, 34, announced that she had split from Top Gear and Question of Sport host Paddy, 49, last July.

The author and autism ambassador is fronting a new BBC One documentary Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism, which sees her uncover the issue of women and girls going undiagnosed and she discusses her marriage to Paddy. The couple married in 2011 and they have a daughter Felicity, six, and nine-year-old twins Leo and Penelope who all have autism.

Their split came months after their BBC documentary Our Family And Autism which shone a light on Christine and her three children’s autism diagnosis. Christine said: “I didn’t want my family to ever fall apart and that’s why I stayed married. As an autistic woman, I like to stay where I’m comfortable, I like things to stay the same.

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“I understand myself better now because that’s where I was comfortable just knowing that it was me, Patrick and the children – but sometimes change has to happen. You just have to deal with it in the best way possible.”

Christine said when she first met Paddy he felt “very safe” and she stayed in that relationship for 15 years. In the documentary, she said: “I know I’ve stayed in a place where I was probably unhappy because it was safe and I don’t like change and ultimately I wanted to keep my family together.”

Since learning of her diagnosis, Christine said she set out on a personal mission to figure