Christine McGuinness shares her pride as dad beats heroin addiction after 40 years of struggle

Blackpool born celebrity Christine, 35, has taken to Instagram to share a hearfelt video featuring pictures of herself with her 62-year-old father, Johnny.

In the caption, the mum of three reveals her father has suffered with a heroin addicition for the past four decades but has come out the other end at last - admitting she never thought she would see the day.

Starting the video's caption with a trigger warning, Christine wrote: "For all the times Ive said what I thought was our last ‘goodbye’ Today was the best Hello

"My dad is the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever seen him, my dad is off heroin. I never thought I’d say those words 😭👏

"If you love someone in recovery, never lose hope, its never too late. My dad is 62, he’s been an addict for 4 decades and now he’s a big stong 16st man!

“Dad, I am so proud of you”

The photos feature Christine with her father at various points over the past few years; with Johnny's weight appearing to fluctuate and in some of the pictures, he is leaning on to a crutch. There are also two photos of Christine at Johnny's bedside as he lies asleep in a hospital bed.

The former model first spoke publicly about her dad's addiction in 2021 when, in her book 'Christine McGuinness: A Beautiful Nightmare', she revealed he was one of the longest living heroin addicts in the UK, and that he would inject himself in front of her when she was a teenager.

Born to dad Jonny and her mother Joanne in Blackpool, her parents split up when she was just one-year-old with Joanne moving Christine and her sister Billie-Jo to Liverpool where they then grew up. Despite her dad's addiction, Christine has said she had a good, albeit fractitious, relationship with him.

In the comments section of the post, Christine's ex husband, Paddy McGuinness, who she still lives with wrote: "His belly is everything! Good lad J 👏👏👏"

Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattison also said "Love you and your dad so much 😍", Carol Vorderman wrote "Wow wow wow....👏👏" and TV presenter Eamon Holmes said "Feel your happiness and pride Christine. Well done Dad".

Meanwhile TV personality Dr Zoe Williams commented: "Made me so happy to see this. Crying happy tears 🥲 I lost my mum to alcohol addiction, awful to watch someone deteriorate in front of your eyes. But like you say - you must always have hope xxx"

Former Hollyoask also said: "So amazing to see this! What a gift recovery is!🙏🏽❤ made me emotional, having this illness is the worst thing to battle and go through and so many are tragically took by this disease💔 Miracles do happen ❤️🙏🏽 so so happy for you and your amazing dad! ❤ Thannk god for the 12 steps and fellowship 🙏🏽"