Christine McGuinness delightedly shares snap of her three children paddling in the sunshine

Christine McGuinness documented her pride at seeing her three autistic children playing in a paddling pool in the sunshine on Thursday afternoon. 

The model and reality star, 32, shares twins Leo and Penelope, six, and daughter Felicity, three, with Top Gear host husband Paddy, 46, and said she was ‘so happy’ to see their ‘confidence slowly coming back’.  

Christine has been open about the siblings’ battle with autism – explaining in a podcast earlier this week they are afraid of loud noises, large groups of people and being in the sunshine. 

Christine was thrilled to report that her children appeared to be taking tentative steps away from such fears.  

She captioned the snap: ‘My world! Honestly, you have no idea how happy this makes me to get all 3 children outside! Their confidence is slowly coming back!

‘They are super sensitive to the sunlight, petrified of anything that moves, flies, bees, birds… and the slightest bit of wind is too loud.

‘But here they are playing, laughing, having fun in our garden! This will probably last 5 minutes!’

Speaking on MTV podcast Nappy Days this week, Christine admitted she would blame herself for her children’s autism, before learning more about the condition.

Each child was diagnosed at the age of three with the developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others.

‘It’s hard enough being a mum but when you have children with additional needs its daunting,’ she said. ‘You wing it at first. You make mistakes but that’s just natural. But I didn’t know they had autism at first because I didn’t know anything about autism.’

Christine admitted that, despite showing the signs of the condition, she didn’t realise what her twins were going through.

‘They didn’t speak. They were non-verbal, they’d walk on their tiptoes, they were sensitive to sound and light. So if there was a sudden noise, they would jump out their skin. But I thought they were just softies.

‘I would think maybe it’s because they are twins, two of them,or that I would not be giving them enough attention. So I blamed myself.’

She explained that looking after the twins much of the time by herself due to Paddy’s workload was one of the reasons she blamed herself.

‘They were with me permanently. My husband works away a lot so I thought maybe it was me and that I hadn’t taught them very well. They also never went to nursery or play groups so I blamed myself for them having no social skills.

‘I thought that it was down to me doing a rubbish job as a mother.’

Christine also spoke about her surprise and joy at getting pregnant, having suffered from anorexia as a teen.

‘My mum took me to the doctor when I was about 15 because I wasn’t having periods,’ she recalled. ‘And he said you’ve obviously got an eating disorder and this could affect your fertility and you could struggle to conceive.

‘I met my husband at 19 and I knew then I wanted to have a family, be a young mum. My husband made me feel comfortable, made me have a healthier lifestyle, made me happier.’

She then fell pregnant, having worked on fixing her eating disorder, and admits she was shocked.

‘I did 20 pregnancy tests because i didn’t believe it!’ she recounted. ‘I had to get over the eating disorder to get pregnant, i don’t think i would have conceived while I was still so underweight because I wasn’t ovulating, so I had to sort that out.’

Christine credits being pregnant for helping with her eating disorder, saying: ‘Once I was pregnant all of those fears and worries thinking about weight just left me.

‘Mother Nature and my own nature kicked in. I knew I had to eat to keep these children healthy and give them the best start.’

Christine explained that she in fact gain six stone while pregnant with the twins.

‘I probably ate too much. And my body has changed since I’ve  had children but so what?’

The reality personality admits that she didn’t become anorexic, initially, because of struggles with how she looked.

‘It wasn’t about body image or losing weight. I was just a fussy eater,’ she explained. ‘I didn’t have many friends at school. I never wanted to go into the dining hall. so during ;lunch i would slope off and go home or go for a walk. 

‘I just didn’t want to eat with everyone. So it wasn’t about losing weight.’ 

She explained that it did stem into that, eventually though.

She said: ‘I was really slim because I hadn’t been eating. And people used to comment on my figure – you should be a model, you’re tall and slim.

‘That’s when it became about body image. I didn’t want to start eating and fix my own problems because I didn’t want to put weight on.’

Christine admits that the condition is still a part of, despite being dormant. 

‘There are still days when its there – I don’t think an eating disorder goes away. I am fit and healthy, I have discovered fitness, I am strong, and I am not anorexic.

‘But if I am stressed its easy to skip meals – its a bad habit and a trigger, and I have to watch it doesn’t get out of control.’