10 28 MARCH 2024 News&Views When I ask Christine McGuinness – the former beauty queen, model and reality star turned author, filmmaker and autism campaigner – what inspired her new children’s book, it’s fair to say I’m not expecting the answer to be ‘Duncan from Blue’. “We went on the run together for charity,” explains Christine, of the partnership she struck up with boy band singer Duncan James while filming the upcoming Celebrity Hunted TV show. “And I just felt like this was one of the first times in my life that I had a true friend. Someone who was there for me at times when I was scared, who was holding my hand… We laughed so much, I thought: ‘Wow! I’m in my thirties, and I really feel like I’ve got a true friend here. The sort of friend I could have done with as a child.’ I felt like we were on a magical adventure together, and that’s where I had the idea for a book about friendship.” In The Magic is You, The Magic is Me, a colourful picture book being released to mark Autism Acceptance Week (2-8 April), best friends Jasper and Jessica embark on the trip of a lifetime that takes them from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the Moon. “For someone like me, who didn’t have friends in childhood, I can only imagine how wonderful that must be,” says Christine. “I look at my own children now, and I see them struggling to make friends,” she adds of 10-year-old twins Leo and Penelope and seven-year-old daughter Felicity, all of whom have autism. “But I really encourage them, and when they do, it is magical. Thank God they’ve got children around them who make an e ort. It’s a part of my life that I missed out on, but I feel so lucky that, as an adult now, I’m starting to make friends.” It’s three years since Christine, then 33, was diagnosed with autism while she and her husband Paddy McGuinness were making a documentary about their children. Though not a huge surprise, the revelation is helping her to make sense of a lifetime of questions. “I’m still learning, every day,” she says. “I’m still developing di erent ways of understanding myself and dealing with myself. I’m still getting to know which part of me is real, and not masking. But just knowing that I do the things I do because I’m autistic takes a big weight o my shoulders.” Research shows that autistic women and girls’ skill at masking – which Christine describes as “presenting yourself in a di erent way to how you truly feel, to try to come across like everybody else, and to try to fit in” – is a significant factor in the under-diagnosis of autism in females. “I see it in myself, but I see it even more in my daughters,” says Christine. “If you met my son, you would know quite instantly that he is di erent, because he shows his autism quite visually. He understands himself really well, and doesn’t hide the fact he is autistic. Whereas if you met my daughters, you might just see two quiet little girls who like sitting in the corner and reading a book. Boys can mask too, but it’s definitely more common in girls.” In the past, Christine – who announced her split from Paddy in 2022, although they still live together – has spoken about how she finds spontaneous conversation di cult, and will “sit up all night, overthinking and rehearsing conversations”. And yet today, talking from the family home in Cheshire (“it’s half-term, so I’m hiding in the attic bedroom with the door barricaded,” she laughs), she is engaged, articulate and, on the outside at least, relaxed. Presumably she hasn’t been up all night rehearsing? “I think I’ve pretty much mastered talking about autism,” she reflects. “Just because I’ve talked about it so much, this is the most comfortable conversation to have. I remember years ago, going to The Pride of Britain Awards with Patrick – it was one of the very few ones I went to, because I wasn’t great at leaving the house at the time. We were sitting at a table with all these big names, these big stars, all chatting away, and I remember just sitting with my head down, thinking: ‘Please don’t anyone speak to me, I’ve got nothing to say.’ But I can talk about autism all day.” The Magic is You, The Magic is Me – Christine’s second children’s book, following her debut Amazing Me, Amazing You – is part of her mission to spread the message of autism Model-turned-campaigner Christine McGuinness tells Paul Kirkley how being diagnosed with autism is helping her finally make sense of life BEHIND THE MASK
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