BBC presenter Paddy McGuinness has told his estranged wife Christine that she must sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of their divorce terms, her friends claim.
Mr McGuinness vehemently denies making the demand.
But her friends insist it’s true and she won’t give in. She has also hired the top lawyer who represented Ant McPartlin’s wife Lisa Armstrong.
Sources close to Mrs McGuinness say Top Gear presenter McGuinness, 50, does not want the former model and mother of his three children to publicly discuss their marriage or divorce – despite giving his own interview to The Sun newspaper yesterday in which he spoke in depth about how they are dealing with the breakup.
Christine and Paddy McGuinness got together in 2009 and married two years later
Mr McGuinness vehemently denies demanding that his estranged wife, Christine, sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of their divorce terms.
An article was published in the tabloid with the headline: ‘We live together, we love each other… we just don’t jump into bed anymore.’
In the chat to promote his comedy tour, McGuinness did confirm that they do not agree on their divorce ‘if lawyers are involved’.
A friend of Mrs McGuinness said: ‘Christine will not be told in future what she can and cannot say. He gave an interview about their divorce, so she can’t talk about things either?’
Ms McGuinness, 35, has hired Catherine Bedford, a partner at law firm Harbottle & Lewis, nicknamed ‘the pit bull’, to represent her.
The friend added: “The gloves are off. Catherine doesn’t make a problem of it; she has rejected NDA demands in the past. There’s no reason she couldn’t do it again.”
The McGuinnesses announced in 2022 that they had split after eleven years of marriage.
But they still share a house in Cheshire to ensure their autistic children – ten-year-old twins Leo and Penelope and seven-year-old Felicity – do not become uprooted.