Christine McGuinness seems like she’s finally in a better place following her split from husband Paddy last year, with sources saying she’s even feeling ready to start over again.
The model was spotted holidaying in Ibiza with pals last week, posting snaps looking incredible in a bikini and grinning from ear to ear as they enjoyed cocktails by the beach.
The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star, 36, who shares three children with Take Me Out presenter Paddy, 50, escaped the grey skies of the UK for the sunny Spanish island, and declared on social media that Ibiza owned “a piece of my heart”. “Mummy is feeling fresh, glass full”, she also wrote. “This ‘self love’ thing is a whole new chapter”.
And an insider now says that the holiday has been a chance for Christine to not just party and relax, but to get a break from her former husband, who she still lives with nearly two years after their split.
“Christine is desperate for a fresh start,” the source says. “She’s been working hard on her own career so the last thing she wants is anything to overshadow that. She feels like it’s mixed messages from Paddy – they’re in the middle of divorce proceedings but he’s been saying that they’re still close and living like a couple.
“She needs some space and is trying to spend as much time with her close-knit circle. She has so much on with balancing the kids with her busy career – she’s struggling with this on top of everything else.”
Christine and Paddy met in 2007 at the Liverpool Tennis Tournament and married four years later at Thornton Manor in Cheshire. In 2022, however, the pair announced that they were splitting after 11 years of marriage. The couple share twins Leo and Penelope, 10, and daughter Felicity, seven. All three children are autistic, while Christine was also diagnosed as autistic at the age of 33.
For the sake of the children, Christine and Paddy have continued to live together after their split.
“It’s the one thing that we completely agree on – the children’s needs come first,” she previously said. “We don’t want them to be affected by anything. Patrick’s diary is busy, as it always is, so he very much dips in and out of the home, because he’s working away a lot.”
But speaking in March, Paddy said that there was still deep affection between the pair, even though they slept separately. “There's no toxicity in the house, says it all really,” he said.
“We have separate bedrooms because we respect that we aren't together any more but, whether we work it through or we don’t, what we do have is a really, really lovely family unit at home. We both love each other. We still hug, and we're still messaging and phoning each other every day, we're just not jumping into bed together anymore.”
But his words might have rung alarm bells for Christine, as the insider says that she’s keen to get some emotional distance between her and Paddy now. “Christine just wants to move forward with her life,” they add. “It’s been a painful few months and all this speculation around her relationship isn’t helpful. She’s feeling very emotional right now.”
Christine’s trip with her friends is the second of her successive holidays. Before jetting off to Ibiza, the reality TV star enjoyed a holiday in Majorca with her mum.
Sharing pics of mother and daughter together, as well as videos of the stunning white sands, Christine wrote, “A little mummy mini break with my mum has been the best chill and self care a girl could wish for. ‘They say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only on’. I get my dreamy head from her.”
Last month, Christine opened up about another recent emotional breakthrough she’d shared with her parents, after seeing her father walk unaided after years of battling a heroin addiction. Appearing on Spencer Matthews’ podcast, she said, “The first time I've seen my dad clean properly was this year, and he stood up and walked towards me for a hug.
“I've never seen him just stand up unaided before. It just took me back a bit and I panicked a bit and went, ‘Are you OK?’ and went to hold him, because wherever I've seen him before I've had to hold him or get a walking stick or he's been in a wheelchair. There was just this big, strong man standing in front of me, and I kind of couldn't believe what I was seeing.”
On Instagram, she wrote, “My dad making my heart smile. It still feels like a dream seeing him happy and healthy, we just don’t stop laughing together! He is so full of life now, very proud daughter.”