Christine McGuinness hid her marital split for weeks as husband Paddy 'wanted to keep up a united front', it has been reported.
Paddy and Christine announced their split on Friday 22 July after reportedly being separated for weeks.
The pair posted the same statement to their Instagram stories as they broke the update to their social media followers.
It has since emerged the pair actually split weeks ago - with it now being reported that it was Paddy's idea to keep up a charade to fans.
However, Christine is said to have pushed to make a public statement as she could no longer 'put on a brave face.'
READ MORE: Paddy McGuinness is still living with Christine in the family home after split
"They ended their marriage early in June. She made it very clear to those close to her that it was over. Paddy, however, wanted to put on a united front," a source told The Sun.
"But in the last week she said they couldn’t carry on and pushed for them to go public. She has had enough of putting on a brave face."
Christine and Paddy said in their statement that they are still living together 'happily' and are on good terms.
They said: "We hadn’t planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but after the lack of privacy surrounding our 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.
"This was not an easy decision to make but we’re 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.
"We hope this now draws a line under anymore unwanted and unnecessary intrusion into our private life. Although we work in the public eye we ask kindly if you could respect our wishes for privacy on this matter. We’ll be making no further comment."
The pair signed off the message: "Loads of love. Paddy & Christine."
Rumours of separation have been going round for the last few weeks with Christine appearing on ITV's Lorraine and saying they were going through a tough time but focusing on their children.
She said: "I think marriages just go through ups and downs anyway. I think all marriages - especially long ones like ours - it's not always going to be plain sailing but we're trying to deal with things as privately as possible.
"We just want to be there to support the children and have an amazing summer. We're going away on a family holiday next week and we're really excited. They're always going to be our focus."
Paddy and Christine have three children together, Penelope, Felicity and Leo.
All three children have been diagnosed with autism, as well as Christine being diagnosed in 2021.
The family are still spending time together, with the five of them going to Centre Parcs in Nottingham last week.
Paddy and Christine's reps have been contacted for comment.
