Christine McGuiness angers Ulrika Jonsson over portrayal of marriage

Ulrika Jonsson admitted she’d come to “slightly despise” marriage and quizzed why so many create an illusion of happiness while feeling “miserable” in reality. The 55-year-old columnist addressed Christine McGuinness’ recent revelations that she had stayed in her marriage to Top Gear star Paddy out of a fear of change, and blasted her past portrayal of “love, light and happiness” on social media as “irritating”.

The presenter stated: “People, like Christine, but by no means her alone, may have done everything in their power to create a public perception of utter happiness and marital bliss.

“… Some people’s insistence on portraying a nigh-on perfect married life gets my goat. It’s no exaggeration to say that it just plain winds people up because it’s not the whole truth.”

Ulrika urged anyone who was “unhappily smug” not to keep up the facade.

She expressed sympathy for the fear of change that she felt Christine was experiencing, “compounded” by autism, but suggested that portraying happiness was misleading, and even compared parenting under the circumstances to a “walk in Jurassic Park”.

READ NOW: A Place in the Sun’s Jasmine Harman details ‘potentially fatal’ issue

Ulrika discussed the ex-Real Housewives of Cheshire star’s decision to “mask her true feelings” over unhappiness in her marriage to maintain stability for herself and her family.

34-year-old Christine, who met Paddy as a teenager and then spent 11 years married to him, has previously explained that he made her feel “safe” in a way that other past partners hadn’t done.

She had been keen to keep the marriage running smoothly for the sake of the couple’s three children, too.

However, she ultimately was unable to ignore her increasing discontentment with married life.

Ulrika admitted she wasn’t “stunned” when she heard the news of their split last year, as she’d categorised them as yet another couple where all was not as it had seemed on the surface.

“You know, those duos who give off a vibe of two people who’ve made a huge success of their long relationship despite the challenges of parenthood, external temptation and knowing that they’ve both substantially changed as people over the years,” Ulrika also mused in her latest column for The Sun.

She went on to compare modern dating to the “Wild West” and admitted that, after three failed marriages of her own, she craved nothing more than for someone to empty the dishwasher for her on a week night.

Ulrika expressed empathy for those who felt they couldn’t “bear the upheaval” of leaving their partner, or who felt obliged to “maintain a front” for public appearances.

Christine revealed that she had struggled with the concept of leaving Paddy in excerpts published from her BBC documentary Unmasking My Autism ahead of its release date on Wednesday.

She opened up on how her condition left her susceptible to craving security and stability, and how much she disliked change.

Christine also told the world about some painful relationships she’d endured in her teenage years with unnamed men, before Paddy had arrived on the scene.

“Before Patrick, I had been sexually abused, I was raped,” the RHOC star lamented.

“I used to pray every night that I wouldn’t wake up in the morning because it was so awful.”

In contrast, she said that when she first met Paddy at the age of 19, he made her feel safe and comfortable – and that the feeling continued even when the relationship was no longer suitable for her.

“I know that I’ve stayed in a place where I was probably unhappy because it was safe and I don’t like change,” she explained.

She and Paddy split last July, but are committed to co-parenting their three children – twins Penelope and Leo, who are eight, and younger daughter Felicity, who is six.

All of the kids have been diagnosed with autism too, which makes it even more important for Christine to share her experiences, in the hope that others in similar situations feel less alone.

Source: Read Full Article