Christine McGuinness says lockdown has saved her marriage to husband Paddy

She tied the knot to the comedian in June 2011 and the couple share three children; twins Leo and Penelope, six, and Felicity, three.

And Christine McGuinness has insisted UK’s coronavirus lockdown has saved her eight-year marriage to her husband Paddy.

The RHOC star, 32, who has been bonding with the presenter, 46, with cheeky TikTok videos, has said they were ‘like passing ships’ and used to argue about who would look after the kids, but have now been spending more time together as they’ve become stay-at-home parents.   

In February 2018, Christine and Paddy’s relationship was briefly rocked when he enjoyed a secret night out with All Saints’ Nicole Appleton. 

Over two years on, the glamour model declared the pair are now stronger than ever, and appreciates the current crisis for forcing them into ‘the same boat for the first time in our lives’. 

Speaking to Woman’s Own magazine, she said: ‘I thought we’d be killing each other – that we’d be arguing and bickering – but we’re not. We’re both putting in 50/50, so there’s absolutely nothing for us to argue about. We’re just trying to have a good time and we’re laughing a lot! 

‘What we’ve realised is the stuff that we used to bicker about before was always work and who was having the kids, whereas now that’s not happening, we’re absolutely fine.  

‘We’re both in the same boat for the first time in our lives, we’re both completely equal, we’re both stay-at-home parents right now. And that’s it. No one’s going anywhere.’ 

The media personality believes her children have been delighted to enjoy some downtime with their father at their Chester home, admitting they will be ‘upset’ when things go back to normal. 

Reality star Christine also revealed she has tried to protect Leo, Penelope and Felicity from worrying about the crisis by telling them they can’t go to school at the moment because ‘everything is being cleaned’.  

The disruption to their usual routine has meant a regression in terms of the trio’s autism and their self-care, eye contact and speech. 

The online influencer has found the most effective way to care for the three youngsters has not been to focus on homeschooling, but on fun activities instead.

Top Gear star Paddy has agreed that without the distractions of work and being forced to stay at home rather than go to the pub, the couple have been getting on better.

Chatting to Chris Moyles’ Radio X breakfast show recently, the Phoenix Nights star said: ‘Do you know what? I feel like arguments are less.

‘All that stuff you normally argue about is outside your house, all that stuff is gone. “What sort of time do you call this?” That sort of thing.’