Advertisement

Christine McGuinness fights back tears as she reads touching poem about autistic twins on Loose Women

Christine McGuinness was overcome with emotion as she paid tribute to her “superstar” twins who she revealed were diagnosed with autism.

McGuinness – who is married to Take Me Out star Paddy – fought back tears on Loose Women as she read out a poem she wrote for Leo and Penelope to mark their fourth birthday earlier this month.

The poem, which she also posted on her Instagram account, praised her “totally unique and fantastically awesome” children for “conquering your daily challenges”.

Christine’s voice cracked as she told them that she loves them “unconditionally” and encouraged them to “embrace” their diagnosis.

💙💖 My babies, My world 🌎 #Autism #AutismAwareness

A post shared by Christine McGuinness (@mrscmcguinness) on Jul 2, 2017 at 4:30am PDT

Christine, who also has daughter Felicity with Paddy, said she felt “angry” on hearing the diagnosis as she couldn’t understand how she had not picked up on the signs.

She said: “I felt quite angry that she’d seen something I hadn’t seen in my children and I thought how can she see that? I’ve raised these, I’ve been with them every single day and surely I would know if there was something not quite right with them, but it was just a lack of knowledge on my part.”

She continued: “Paddy was there, he was completely stunned too. When we went away and researched it everything did fall into place. We had seen it, we just didn’t know it was autism.”

Supportive: Paddy and Christine McGuinness (Yui Mok/PA)
Supportive: Paddy and Christine McGuinness (Yui Mok/PA)

Christine said she felt a “sense of loss” on first hearing the diagnosis but that she has now realised she is “the right mum for these” and can “give them the right life”.

Explaining their daily routine she said they now attend nursery, but that her ‘heart breaks’ as they find it difficult to socialise.

She also recalled the time she broke down in a supermarket after trying, and failing, to find the specific butter Leo likes as he has “problems with food”.

She said: “I went to four supermarkets. At the last one when this butter wasn’t on the shelves I just burst into tears in the fridge aisle and I could see the staff going, there she is the crazy butter lady is here again, because I’ve usually got six blocks of butter when it’s there. It’s a tiny little thing but to him it’s so important.”