Paddy McGuinness has revealed he feels conflicted about spoiling his children after his own tough upbringing.
The comedian, 51, confessed that he loves his parents and how they raised him but doesn’t want his own children to experience any hardship.
The stand-up shares three children – 11-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and eight-year-old Felicity with his ex-wife Christine.
He admitted it’s difficult because he wants to make sure his family don’t go without but he doesn’t want to be too soft.
He said: ‘It’s a tricky one with children, because if you’ve got the provisions to get your kid a toy if they want one, I think naturally, being soft as I am, I’m going to do that, especially not having had it myself.’
Paddy McGuinness, 51, has revealed he feels conflicted about spoiling his children after his own tough upbringing
The stand-up shares three children – 11-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and eight-year-old Felicity with his ex-wife Christine (pictured together 2021)
The star told The Radio Times that although his parents worked hard, there were times when he was jealous of other children and their toys.
‘I remember how it made me feel in my childhood looking at the lad who had the best football boots, bike or toy.’ he said.
‘It didn’t do me any harm, I was fine in life, but I don’t want my kids to feel that, and they don’t.’
Paddy admitted that it’s easy not to spoil his children because they don’t ask for very much.
He said: ‘But the great thing about my children is I treat them to stuff like any other parent does, but they don’t mither me for a lot of things. They’re happy with what they’ve got. When it comes to Christmas, it’s me going, “Do you want one of these?” and they go, “Not really!” I try to get a nice balance with them.’
Paddy grew up in Farnworth, Bolton with his mother who worked as a cleaner and his father who served in the military, before working in the scrap metal industry then as a miner and finally as a lorry driver.
Although his parents gave him everything they could, Paddy said he remembers growing up desperately wishing for certain things.
And one of those was a purple Chopper, his bike of choice for his charity ride across the UK.
The comedian confessed that he is grateful to his parents and how they raised him but doesn’t want his own children to experience any hardship and described himself as a softy
Paddy’s love of a vintage bike he craved as a child inspired him to take on the mammoth task of cycling across the country for Children In Need (pictured riding his bike in Cheshire)
He told the publication that as a boy he got a BMX 2000 as a present and although he has fond memories of that bike, what he really wanted was a purple Chopper.
He said: ‘I remember thinking, ‘God, I’d give my right arm for that bike.’ I became mates with him and borrowed it off him for a while and swapped it for a Star Wars AT-AT [All Terrain Armoured Transport] toy.’
And decades later, during the first Covid lockdown, to cheer himself up, Paddy bought himself the same bike he had wanted as a child for £400 on eBay.
And it’s his love of that vintage bike that inspired him to take on the mammoth task of cycling across the country for Children In Need.
The comedian is embarking on the Radio 2 Ultra Endurance Cycle Challenge to raise money for the charity.
Paddy will start on Monday 11 November at Wrexham Football Club before travelling Flintshire, Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire, Westmorland, Cumbria, Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire and finishing in Glasgow on Friday 15 November.
The presenter will be riding a bright yellow Chopper, complete with Pudsey Bear’s face on its frame for the endurance task.
Impressively, the star has had no help from a personal trainer, and the only professional cycling advice he has had has been from Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy.
The cyclist, revealed last month that his cancer had become terminal.
Impressively, the star has had no help from a personal trainer, and the only cycling advice he has had has been from Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy (pictured) who recently revealed his terminal cancer diagnosis
Paddy revealed he feels out of practice onstage but that he loved making people laugh after being encouraged to try stand-up by his friend Peter Kay (pictured together in 2005)
The six-time Olympic gold medalist, 48, shocked the sporting world when he revealed he would be living with stage four cancer for ‘the rest of his life’.
But despite the difficult news, the athlete has continued to love cycling and has been helping his neighbour and friend Paddy with training.
The Take Me Out host explained that Sir Chris lives near him and he reached out to ask for help with his training.
And the cyclist was more than willing to oblige and promised to take Paddy out on some ‘punishing rides’ to prepare him.
He also advised the TV star to ride his bike every day just to get used to being in the saddle because it can become painful sitting in the same position for so long.
And it seems Sir Chris has made it his personal mission to get Paddy ready, the star revealed he has been going to great lengths to help him.
He confessed: ‘He’s been going around finding me bum cream! I’ve got to slather it on myself, and the bib shorts I’m wearing.
It wasn’t until his friend Peter Kay went on stage at a small comedy club in Manchester that Paddy though stand-up could be a career option for him
‘It feels awful, but if you don’t have it on, you can’t ride any longer than an hour or two, because of the friction.’
As well as taking on the mammoth cycle, Paddy will be making his way around the UK via stage.
The tour will be his first in eight years and will wrap up in April 2025.
But Paddy admitted he is feeling out of practice and explained that it can be difficult to remember all the material.
He added that tours are very stressful because of the highs and lows and the feeling on stage when everyone is ‘laughing, and listening to you and hanging on every word’, an experience he said made him feel ‘ten feet tall’.
Despite his successful career, Paddy didn’t envisage himself as a professional comedian.
He told the magazine that if he hadn’t made it big on stage he would probably have continued working at a leisure centre and as a labourer.
He added that his parents didn’t encourage him because it wasn’t seen as an option and instead they were all focused on making sure they were bringing home a paycheck..
And although he went through a tough upbringing, Paddy said he loved his parents ‘to bits’.
And soon Paddy will be adding another accolade to his growing collection as host of CBeebies Bedtime Stories
It wasn’t until his friend Peter Kay went on stage at a small comedy club in Manchester that Paddy thought stand-up could be a career option for him.
Paddy went on to say it wasn’t even the applause he was after but the money, explaining that Peter – who went on to write Pheonix Nights and star in several of his own sold-out stadium tours – was paid £40 for the gig.
He said: ‘It was purely a financial decision. I was doing all right in jobs and various things, but I would have never been the CEO of a business or anything like that. I’d have just stayed at the level I was, so I thought comedy was a great way to better myself and try to make a few quid to help at home.’
And the comedy legend’s friendship was further cemented when Peter advised Paddy to pack in his day job and switch to comedy full time, a move that initially made him nervous as it took away the security of a regular pay packet.
But the star didn’t look back and was catapulted into the nation’s living rooms on hosting the ITV dating show Take Me Out from 2010 until 2019.
Paddy said he was very proud of the show which produced eight weddings and six babies and said it was the kind of TV that inspired later shows including Love Island and First Dates.
And soon Paddy will be adding another accolade to his growing collection as host of CBeebies Bedtime Stories.
The comedian watches the show with his children and is always reading them stories so he said it felt perfectly natural to appear on the show.
And all of this is happening against the backdrop of his recent BBC1 series Paddy and Chris: Road Tripping, with his former Top Gear co-presenter Chris Harris.
And the star likes to be kept busy keeps because he doesn’t take anything for granted and is constantly pushing forward on his next project, which right now is training for his mega-cycle.
