Paddy and Christine McGuinness officially announce they split 'some time ago' after coming back from holiday with kids

Paddy and Christine McGuinness have confirmed they have split after arriving back from a UK break with their children. Earlier today (Friday, July 22) Paddy took to Instagram with a smiling selfie of the pair, who have been married for 11 years.

It was the first time the pair had been seen publically together since Christine admitted to them experiencing a 'very difficult' time in their marriage. The pair each posted statements on Instagram where they opened up about the "difficult decision".

They wrote: "We hadn't planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but after the lack of privacy surrounding our life personal life, we feel left with no other option but to clarify. A while ago we took the difficult decision to separate but our main focus as always is to continue loving and supporting our children.

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"This was not an easy decision to make but we are moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children. We'll always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily in our family home together."

They went on: "We hope this now draws a line under anymore unwanted intrusion into our our private life. Although we work in the public eye we ask kindly if you could respect our wishes for privacy on this matter."

Paddy and Christine then concluded: "We'll be making no further comments." Earlier this month former model Chrisitne spoke to the press about her 11-year marriage after rumours of a split began to swirl. Speculation about the couple's relationship arose when Paddy wasn't seen publicly supporting his wife during her stint on ITV’s The Games before the