Paddy McGuinness‘marriage turned upside down when his wife found out’ Instagram messages from the Top gear host to a BBC can reveal The Mail on Sunday presenter.
The 48-year-old TV star, who made his name on the dating show Take Me Out, is said to have exchanged a series of messages with the woman in March, shortly before he and his wife Christine decided to start living separate lives.
The couple announced last week that they had split after 11 years of marriage.
While there’s no suggestion the messages went beyond friendship, informed sources said Ms McGuinness, 34, was upset after finding them on his phone.
A friend of Christine McGuinness said “direct messages” between her TV presenter Paddy, 48, and a BBC presenter were “one of the driving forces” in their marriage.
A friend said, “Paddy had been messaging the woman for a while. They were direct messages and were very friendly.
“It’s not clear how they met, but they followed each other for a while.
“There have been several issues between him and Christine, but this was certainly one of the driving forces that made them assess their future as a married couple.”
Speaking to The Sun this month, Ms McGuinness alluded to serious tensions in the marriage, adding: ‘I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I’ll just say I didn’t cause this situation.
The couple, pictured last October at the Pride of Britain Awards 2021, announced on Friday that they had split after 11 years of marriage, but would still live together for their children.
‘Difficult’: Paddy and Christine shared joint statements on Instagram on Friday explaining that they still live happily together in their family home and that their main focus is to love and support their three children
“You have to expect it when you’ve been together for so long. Everyone grows and changes, and we’ve grown as a family, which is great.
“That family bond will always be there, no matter what happens.
“But I was a teenager when I met him and I’m a 34-year-old woman now, so I suppose what I would have put up with in the past I probably wouldn’t put up with now — and the same for him.”
The couple announced on Instagram on Friday that they’d decided to split up but would still be living together in their £2.1 million Cheshire home for the sake of their autistic children – twins Leo and Penelope, nine, and six-year-old congratulations.
Christine appeared on the Lorraine show earlier this month and talked about her marriage
They said they had been living separate lives for a while.
“We made the difficult decision to break up a while ago, but our main focus, as always, is to continue to love and support our children,” they said.
“This was not an easy decision to make, but we are moving forward as the best parents we can be to our three beautiful children.
Christine’s friends say she’s ‘found confidence’ after appearing on ITV show The Games
“We will always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily together in our parental home.”
Friends of Ms McGuinness, who was also diagnosed with autism last year, say the cracks in the relationship widened as her husband’s success grew.
In 2018, he was named as one of Top Gear’s three hosts – with Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris – and last year began hosting Question Of Sport.
For her part, friends say that Ms. McGuinness, a former beauty queen who participated with her husband in a documentary to raise awareness of autism last year, gained confidence after appearing this year as a contestant in The Games, a reality sports game show on ITV.
“Christine found confidence in The Games,” one said.
“She felt like she was finally doing something for herself, and she made some good friends. Before that, she was very much at home and saw Paddy have a successful career.
“It was great to see her find herself.”
Ms McGuinness also signed with a different agent than her husband and will present a BBC documentary about the rise in the number of adult women diagnosed with autism.
But sources say growing work commitments meant the couple spent less time together.