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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

Christine McGuinness says it's 'D day' as she shares hope for first solo project and discusses dating fears

Christine McGuinness told her loyal followers that it's 'D day' as she shared her hopes ahead of them seeing her first big project since splitting from her husband Paddy McGuinness. The model and autism campaigner has filmed her first solo documentary which will see her reveal how autism in women and girls has been ignored and misunderstood by science and society, leaving thousands of women undiagnosed.

Christine revealed she had also been diagnosed with the developmental disability caused by differences in the brain that affects how people communicate and interact with the world towards the end of 2021, after all three of her children - twins Penelope and Leo, nine, and youngest daughter, six-year-old Felicity - were given the same diagnosis.

The doting mum's new film, Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism, which airs on Wednesday night (March 15), follows the BBC One documentary Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism, screened in November 2021, in which they met other parents, experts and people on the autism spectrum.

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Taking to Instagram on Wednesday (March 15) after she appeared on BBC's Morning Live, Christine spoke to the camera from the studio and said with a laugh: "I probably should mention that it's documentary day. It's on tonight. This has been a passion project for me that I have worked on all of last year and it's finally going to be on telly for everyone to see."

She added: "I hope you all love it and enjoy it. I hope that you learn loads and I hope autistic women and girls are a lot more understood." She also typed with on the clip: "It's D day," alongside an emotional face emoji and a red heart before adding the details for the doc, which airs on BBC One at 9pm before being available on iPlayer.

Christine later shared a clip from her appearance on Morning Live in which she was asked by host Sam Quek what she would tell women who are wanting to seek a diagnosis. Alongside the clip, the 34-year-olf wrote: "Talk, talk and talk some more.. the clarification helps you to live as your most authentic self, unlocking parts of you that shouldn’t be hidden!"

Christine was speaking ahead of the airing of her first solo documentary (Christine McGuinness Instagram)

She added a quote heard in her documentary in which she's told: "Imagine not showing up for your own life." Christine then wrote: "Thank you @bbcmorninglive for having me! @samquek13 @gethincjones for being so amazing and talking about something I’m extremely passionate about."

The documentary also sees Christine sharing her dating fears after announcing she and Bolton-born TV star Paddy split back in July last year. Speaking in her documentary, in a clip which aired on ITV's Lorraine, she said: "I think the changes for me, although they are massive, I am doing everything very slowly. I'm trying to not pretend, I'm trying to not always fit in.

"And then, with my marriage for example, I've been with my husband since I was 19-years-old. I've only ever had this one man in my life for 15 years. I can't imagine living with anybody else, I don't know what it's like to date." She added: "I can't remember being single and I've found myself in this position now where I don't really know what to do with it and then I am just going into a new chapter on my own, which is petrifying for someone who doesn't like change."

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