CHRISTINE McGuinness has turned to her dad, who is one of the longest living heroin addicts in the country, for a shoulder to cry on after her split with Paddy McGuinness.
The TV star, 34, has not been close with Johnny for many years as he struggled with drugs – but is now said to be ‘closer than ever.’
Johnny was due to walk her down the aisle at her wedding to ex Paddy Guinness, but failed to turn up on the day, and he has still not met Paddy or their three children – twins Leo and Penelope, eight, and five-year-old Felicity.
However sources say their relationship is better than ever since her split from Paddy and they are back in regular contact.
An insider said: "Christine has made no secret of how tough her childhood was.
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"It was very hard for him to read her take on his addiction in her autobiography.
"She always felt her dad chose drugs over her, but since splitting from Paddy she has reconnected with her dad.
"Christine has been visiting Blackpool a lot to see him and she's been building up relationships with other family members too, they’re closer than they ever have been."
Christine previously said his troubles started when she was just a one-year-old baby and that after she crawled over one of his needles as a toddler, her mother Joanne left him – moving away from Blackpool to Merseyside.
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Growing up with her sister Billie-Jo, Christine witnessed her father’s addiction first hand as a teenager but naturally struggled to understand why he chose to use Class A drugs over being a presence in her life.
She wrote: “I saw my dad inject heroin. As a teenager, I struggled with his addiction. I blamed myself. When I became a mum. I kept thinking about how he chose drugs over his own kids.
“But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised it wasn’t as simple a choice for him. Addiction is an illness.”
Sadly, 30 years on from the start of his struggle with addiction, she said she doubts he will ever be able to get clean for good.
Writing in her autobiography, A Beautiful Nightmare, Christine said: “He’s one of the longest living heroin addicts registered in the country and he’s prolific around Blackpool.
“I honestly don’t know how he’s kept going. He’s been in and out of hospital so many times. On lots of occasions, the doctors have called us up and said, ‘We don’t think he’s going to make it. This is it now.’
“I’ll say: ‘He looks like a skeleton. He looks like he’s going to die!’ And then he’ll walk out, strong as an ox. He’s like a cat with nine lives. He gets up and gets on with it and has done for his 30-plus years as an addict.”
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She also revealed that doctors had previously warned they thought they would have to amputate Johnny’s legs because of the number of holes and abscesses on them – caused by injecting himself with unsanitary needles.
“I remember a time when we thought he was going to die and we went to see him in hospital,” she wrote.
“He looked straight at me and said, “Christine, if I die, I’m going to die happy. I’ve had a good life. I enjoy what I do. I like it. It feels good.”
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