Christine McGuinness has opened up about her sexuality in a new podcast. The model was married to comedian Paddy McGuinness from 2011 until they separated in 2022.
Asked if she has a label for her sexuality, she said on the ‘How To Fail with Elizabeth Day’ podcast that she was a “free spirit” and it was never a “secret” that she had dated both men and women.
The 37-year-old insisted it has “never mattered” to her whether she was dating a man or a woman. She explained: “I’ve thought about it. A lot of people always ask me, are you a lesbian? Are you bisexual? Are you what? Is this a phase?
“I’ve always been quite a free spirit. I think that’s the only word I would put on it. When I was a teenager, I’d dated boys and girls. 14 and 15 was probably when I had my first kisses with, with both, and I never felt it was anything different or a big deal.
Christine described her experiences with women as “lovely” and it’s not like women are “better or worse” than men. She added “It shouldn’t matter somebody’s gender. It never mattered to me, which was why once me and my ex-husband were separated and I met people, I didn’t properly date.”
She told the host that Paddy knew and her family knew she was open about her sexuality. Christine, who has three children, eleven-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and eight-year-old daughter Felicity, with Paddy admits she is now craving a “connection”, but she doesn’t want “a new family unit or someone to come in and be a stepparent” to their children.
Christine added: “It’s simply that the connection for me is different. I need a connection now. I need something different. I really, really, honestly, I love my family and Patrick is part of my family and he always, always will be. But now for my next relationship, I know what I want and I want someone for me.
“I want someone that I like spending time with, we can do stuff together that we both enjoy. I want that emotional connection where I can be open and I can talk and I can be vulnerable and I can ask for help, but I can also have a laugh and just have a good time.
The former ‘The Real Housewives of Cheshire’ star still lives with Paddy, and they are “allowed” to date others, but they don’t “overshare” about any new romantic experiences.
She opened up about her relationship with Paddy: “We actually had a good 16 years we were together. I still lived with him. I met him when I was 19 and we still live together and we’ve been separated for three years and it was one of those things, I remember when we put out the statements about us separating we were both nervous about what the reaction was going to be publicly.
“We’re adults and we’re single, so we can, but we also know that we don’t need to overshare any information about anything because we are still exes and we are still living in the same house.”