Christine McGuinness spending Christmas with Paddy because children still don't know about split
Christine McGuinness has opened up about her plans to spend Christmas altogether as a family, including with ex-partner Paddy.
After 15 years together - 11 of which they were married - Christine and Paddy McGuinness announced their split earlier this year in July.
The pair share twins Leo and Penelope, nine, and Felicity, six.
In the build-up to the festive period, Christine has revealed what it's been like co-parenting with Take Me Out host Paddy and the pair's plans for Christmas Day.
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While noting it has been 'heartbreaking' to separate from Paddy, Christine told OK! the pair are set to spend Christmas together because 'that's what their children are used to'.
She continued: "We don’t know what the future holds or how it’s going to be moving forward, but we’ll try to keep things as normal as possible.
"We're amicable. I’m quite happy for him to be there with the children and it’s nice for them to see Mummy and Daddy just being alright.
"We can sit and have a cup of tea together and that’s fine.
"I would never let the children be aware of anything other than us being happy and alright, because they’re so young and innocent."
Christine revealed the children don't actually know her and Paddy have split up.
"They’re so young. I’m trying to just stick to their normal routine - take them to school in the morning, pick them up, try to work while they’re at school and take them to after-school clubs and just try to stick to normal life as much as possible," she explained.
Christine and Paddy released a joint statement on Instagram back in July to announce their split.
The post read: "We hadn’t planned on sharing this publicly until we were ready but after the lack of privacy surrounding our personal life, we feel left with no other option but to clarify.
"A while ago we took the difficult decision to separate but our main focus as always is to continue loving and supporting our children. This was not an easy decision to make but we’re moving forward as the best parents we can be for our three beautiful children. We’ll always be a loving family, we still have a great relationship and still live happily in our family home together.
"We hope this now draws a line under anymore unwanted and unnecessary intrusion into our private life. Although we work in the public eye we ask kindly if you could respect our wishes for privacy on this matter. We’ll be making no further comment."
Poppy Bilderbeck