Christine McGuinness has written a new children's book, inspired by her own experience with autism, to help children understand and accept their autistic peers. The model and TV presenter, 34, discovered she had the condition last year while making a BBC documentary about her three children, who are all autistic.
Her book, titled Amazing Me, Amazing You, aims to deliver 'strong messages of kindness, friendship and accepting each other'. Christine expressed her excitement, saying, 'It's a book about inclusivity for everybody and explains in a child-friendly way that everybody is different and that is something to celebrate.'
The children's book follows her autobiography A Beautiful Nightmare, released last year, in which she discussed her diagnosis at age 33 after her husband Paddy suspected she might be autistic. Christine and Paddy, the Top Gear host, split in July after 11 years together amid rumours of infidelity.
Christine's diagnosis came as she and Paddy were making a film about the lives of their twins Leo and Penelope, nine, and six-year-old Felicity. In her autobiography, she wrote: 'I've noticed little hints that I'm more like my children than I ever could have imagined. The way I float through life reminds me of how my eldest daughter Penelope is.'
Christine joins a list of celebrities who have ventured into the £642 million children's book market, including David Walliams, Meghan Markle, McFly's Tom Fletcher and his wife Giovanna, and Rochelle Humes. Amazing Me, Amazing You, illustrated by Hannah Jayne Lewin, is due to be published by Scholastic in March.
