Christine McGuinness has shared why a grey hoodie is a support to her. The model and autism campaigner has been flooded with praise in recent weeks following the release of her first solo documentary.
Airing on the BBC earlier this month, Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism, saw Christine open up about her adult autism diagnosis at 33 while lifting the lid on living with the developmental disorder. She 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.
It came after all three of her children - twins Penelope and Leo, nine, and youngest daughter, six-year-old Felicity - were given the same diagnosis. In the documentary, as she met others with the condition, Christine shared how her behaviour as a child was misunderstood as 'being naughty' and she dropped out of school at 14 without qualifications and entered beauty pageants.
There was also a heartbreaking moment when the former The Real Housewives of Cheshire star told how her ex-husband Paddy McGuinness had made her feel "safe" after she had suffered sexual abuse from the age of nine. She also opened up about her split from the Top Gear presenter, which the couple announced in July last year, saying that after 15 years together "I don't know what it's like to date."
Christine has now thrown her support behind a campagain during World Autism Acceptance Week, which runs from March 27 to April 2. Me, My Autism & I – in partnership with charity, Ambitious about Autism and Christine - come after new research by Vanish, found girls are three times less likely than boys to receive an autism diagnosis, with an attachment to an item of clothing being a key factor for one in three girls to realise they are autistic.
"I struggled with autism for the majority of my life without realising but there was something consistently present; I didn’t like change," Christine shared. "It’s something I noticed from the clothes I was wearing to the routines I was keeping. Every autistic person is unique but for many of us, change is a big deal and clothing can make or break the day-to-day for some autistic people when we rely on it for consistency and familiarity."
The 35-year-old added: " I have a grey hoodie which is particularly important to me because of the way the sleeves pull over my hands to comfort me, and because it has a deep hood which is perfect to hide into when it gets too noisy while travelling."
It comes after Christine gave further insight into how her autism affects her daily life over the weekend. Sat in her car, the mum-of-three said to the camera: "This is my worst nightmare. I've been sat in my car for an hour..." she said as she took a deep breath. "I need to go shopping," she then explained while sat outside a shopping centre.
"I'm working next week, I've got a really busy week. I think I've got about 20 different jobs in a couple of days. I'm in London next week and I need some clothes but I just... I should have done the online but I've left it to late. I absolutely hate it. I don't understand girls who like shopping. It's busy, there's stuff everywhere and I can't make a decision.
"I'm fine in an arena. If I was in an arena with 10,000 people and there's music on, I love it. I'm absolutely fine there. But I don't like busy shops and I don't like restaurants... busy places."
Christine later returned back to her car with an update which she captioned: "3hrs later." She said: "That was just an awful experience. It was so much worse than what I imagined. It wasn't actually too busy but I just couldn't pick anything and I got really... I'm very stuck in my own head at the minute and I'm struggling."
She went on to say she had got "nothing" she needed by didn't leave empty handed as she purchased a sparkling rainbow ring and a pair of new designer sunglasses. "Absolutely useless items to what I actually need because I can't just go on telly in a pair of sunglasses and a ring," she said. "I just need a holiday now," she laughed as she tried her new shades on for size.
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