The presenter and his wife Christine split in 2022
Paddy and Christine split in 2022 after 11 years of marriage
TV presenter and comedian Paddy McGuinness will be among the famous faces taking to the pitch at the London Stadium on Sunday as Soccer Aid celebrates its 20th anniversary.
The Top Gear and Take Me Out presenter and star of Phoenix Nights has been a long-time supporter of the huge charity event, first taking part in 2010. He will now pull on the England shirt agains this weekend as he joins famous teammates including Jack Whitehall, Danny Dyer and Tom Hiddleston in taking on the World XI.
Paddy’s appearance comes after a rocky few years in his personal life, with the presenter splitting from his former model wife Christine in 2022 after 11 years of marriage.
The couple share three children – twins Leo and Penelope, 13, and eight-year-old Felicity – and, despite their separation, still live together as co-parents.
However, Christine has moved on following their split, dating women and describing herself as a “five-star lesbian”, while admitting that she is now searching for a wife.
“I didn’t intentionally go, ‘Okay, that’s it. Now I’m off to women.’ But that’s kind of what I’ve done,” she told the It Started With A Kiss podcast. “We split. We divorced and then I’ve just enjoyed the women and I absolutely fully love it and can’t get enough.”
“I would love to have a wife one day, not like a legalised marriage, but like a blessing, a celebration of love and all of that, I would love to just be saying, ‘this is my wife’.
Christine also added that she now splits her time between her family up north and working in London, where she can “work, have fun, sleep in and I don’t need to worry about everything”.
On having a foot in both worlds, she explained: “I love a double life! And this has become a problem because eventually it gets to the point where, obviously, I’m quite happy at this, and then my woman’s going ‘am I going to meet the kids? And ‘are we doing this forever?’
“And I’m kind of going like, ‘OK, I thought I did tell you that that wasn’t going to change any time soon at the beginning’.”
Earlier this month, it was reported that Paddy had been left blindsided by his estranged wife’s rumoured romance with former boxer Nicola Adams, with the presenter believed to be completely unaware of the speculation around them.
Rumours of a blossoming relationship between Christine and Nicola first emerged after the pair attended the DIVA Awards 2026 in London together in April, with a source telling the Daily Mail that they “looked like they were a couple.”
Neither star has publicly confirmed a romance, however.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Paddy said that he is “neither dating or in a relationship with anyone,” adding: “His focus is exclusively on his kids and his work.
“As Christine has said in recent interviews, he and Christine are getting on well and their focus is on the kids and continuing to support them as much as they can moving forwards.”
