Christine McGuinness reveals she ‘blamed herself’ for her three children being autistic and felt like a ‘rubbish’ mother

CHRISTINE McGuinness has admitted that she "blamed herself" for her three children being autistic, and that she felt like a "rubbish" mother.

The 32-year-old model has three children with husband Paddy, six-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and three-year-old Felicity.

Each child was diagnosed with autism aged three, which affects how they are able to interact with others, their development, and how they cope in the world.

Now Christine has opened up about the challenges of parenting children with additional needs, confessing that it is "daunting".

She went on to add that although Leo and Penelope were showing signs of autism, she didn't know what they were going through because she wasn't educated on the disorder.

The blonde beauty explained to : "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."

"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."

TV star Paddy, 46, works away from home a lot, which Christine said fuelled her belief that she was responsible for their autism.

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She shared: "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."

Thankfully, since the children were diagnosed and Christine and Paddy were educated on autism, the family have been thriving - with Christine regularly updating followers on their lives on social media.

Although the star is still incredibly open about the hardships of parenting autistic children, with followers praising her for her honesty.