Christine McGuinness reveals horrifying childhood rape, abuse and anorexia trauma
CHRISTINE McGuinness has revealed her horrifying childhood rape, abuse and anorexia trauma in her new tell-all book.
The model and wife of TV presenter Paddy McGuinness has opened up about the haunting visions of her harrowing upbringing for the first time.
Christine, 33, opens up in her new book, A Beautiful Nightmare, about how she was raped by a school boy and sexually abuse by a family friend.
In excerpts of the tome published by , the star reveals how she developed an eating disorder and relied on alcohol to cope with the trauma.
The mum-of-three - who stars in reality show The Real Housewives of Cheshire - has given fans an insight into her life "before she took her husband's name".
Yet she also reveals how Top Gear presenter Paddy, 48 - who she knows as Patrick - helped her get to a stage in life where she could not be "knocked back down".
The book tells of how Christine was raised on a council estate by mum Joanne and dad Johnny in Merseyside, where she also lived with sister Billie-Jo, 34.
She explains that "times were so hard" for the family that they struggled to "have the heating on and put food on the table" as party of a "difficult childhood".
"My childhood was a difficult one - no two ways about it," Christine sets the scene early in the novel, detailing how she had once attempted to steal.
"I had anorexia for years and if I'm honest, it can still be a problem now, but I'm getting better," the star adds of her issues with food that too went unnoticed.
Christine reveals she would tell her busy mum that she had eaten at school to avoid having any meals at home, while skipping food on both occasions.
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She admits that she was "majorly anxious" about sitting in the dining hall, as "the fear of rejection was a massive thing" as she worried she didn't fit in.
Her social anxiety had been worsened after she was sexually abused between the ages nine and 13 by someone close to her family.
"He would take me to his house to watch disturbing videos," Christine says, recalling how she would be forced to watch "extreme violence".
"He'd take me to places like the beach and after playing in the sea he'd tell me he didn't have dry clothes. I would then have to travel home naked. Now I know that's because he was a paedophile".
Christine still has nightmares and was waking up "every hour or couple of hours" throughout her teens as she struggled to comprehend the abuse.
By 13, Christine turned to alcohol - and she attended a house party where she was raped by a fellow school student.
"A boy from school came in and had sex with me against my will," the tell-all tome reveals. "I remember saying 'no' and tried to push him off."
From then on, in her later teens, Christine - who then turned to beauty pageants and dance competitions - continued to rely on alcohol more and more.
The star spent "more time drunk than sober" and often ";necked a bottle of vodka before leaving the house" before choosing to pursue dancing professionally.
She gave up alcohol for good in her late teens, and is yet to have a drink since, even on her wedding day to childhood sweetheart Paddy, who she met aged 19.
The couple now share autistic twins Penelope and Leo, eight, and daughter Felicity, five, despite Christine struggling with polycystic ovary syndrome.
Christine concludes that she wrote her book to mark that "nothing else can happen that will knock her back down" after all her childhood struggles.
“Before now, I constantly questioned who I am, what I’m doing and what my purpose is. But now everything has just fallen into place," she says.
BARING IT ALL
It comes days after Christine revealed that she is set to bare all for this year's The Real Full Monty on ITV.
Looking glamorous in the post, the mum-of-three explained that in the caption that she was inspired to sign up to the charity performance following her mother's breast cancer battle.
She penned: "Finally I can ‘reveal’ what I’ve been up too! I am taking part in ‘THE REAL FULL MONTY’ all in aid of cancer.
"This is a cause close to my heart, four of my aunties and most recently my mum have had breast cancer so I am beyond proud to be part of this amazing TV show working with an incredible cast and the most wonderful production @spungoldtvofficial raising awareness for cancer".
In June, Christine revealed that her mother was "doing incredibly well" after finishing her breast cancer treatment.
Sharing a photo of them hugging in her back garden, Christine wrote at the time: "Ma. Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and loved more than you know.'
"So many of you ask about my mum, she is doing amazingly well, I’m so proud of her. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy is all done now it’s time for her to enjoy life!"
The Real Housewives of Cheshire star's mum had been battling breast cancer and completed a six-month course of treatment in March.
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At the time, Christine hadn't been able to see her mum for seven months as she self-isolated while receiving treatment amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Last December, the TV star broke down in tears as she shared her heartbreak over not being able to see her mum while she underwent chemo.
