Michael McIntyre is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most popular entertainers, and after starting out on the British stand-up comedy circuit, Michael went on to forge a successful TV career, with his hit BBC programmes such as The Wheel and The Big Show becoming staples of Saturday night TV.
But what about his life away from the cameras? Find out all you need to know about Michael’s home life with his wife Kitty and their two children.
20-year marriage to wife Kitty
Since 2003, Michael has been married to aromatherapist Kitty Ward. The TV star first met Kitty in his early twenties and spent two years trying to persuade her to go on a date with him.
“We had a really good start and I think she really liked me but I didn’t know how to handle that,” he said on Desert Island Discs in 2011, explaining how he’d announced to his family that he was going to marry her after their first date.
© Photo: Getty ImagesBesotted with his future wife, Michael would often phone her, resulting in a “record-breaking” number of missed calls as he preferred to keep dialling rather than leave messages on an answer phone. Jokingly referring to himself as a “stalker”, Michael explained how he even ended up moving into a flat over the road from Kitty.
Opening up about their early relationship in his 2010 book, Life and Laughing, Michael shared his first impressions of Kitty: “She was the girl I had been looking for. In the romantic comedy that was my life, this would have made a good ending.
“We would fall happily ever after. Within moments of seeing her and chatting to her I was totally up for that ending. Unfortunately, she wasn’t.”
© Joanne Davidson/ShutterstockWhile Michael eventually managed to win Kitty over, Michael’s grandmother found it difficult to accept the new woman in his life.
“Unfortunately my grandma didn’t really like it when I got a girlfriend,” Michael revealed on Desert Island Discs. “She was trying to break us up which was funny for a while but then it became quite vicious, an untenable situation.”
© Gary MoyesDespite his grandmother’s attempts to split them up, the couple’s relationship went from strength to strength and Michael eventually got down on one knee.
Children
Michael and Katy have welcomed two sons, Lucas and Oscar, who are often referenced in Michael’s stand-up routines.
© Gary MoyesIn one of his most memorable jokes about his children, Michael said: “My son’s got two words: car and map, that’s all he can say. ‘Car, car, map, car!’ I’m fairly worried he’s trying to escape. So if the next word is passport, we’re in serious trouble.“
Since his children have matured, Michael revealed that they still him as a dad rather than a comedy legend. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday in 2020, he joked: “I have only done this Netflix show to appear cool to them, but they watch other things. I am not a comedy star in their eyes. My teenage son thinks I am a very annoying person.”
The family reside in Hampstead, London.
Famous in-laws
While Kitty has chosen a career away from the cameras, she’s used to being in the limelight as the daughter of actor Simon Ward and sister of actress Sophie Ward.
Simon, who passed away in 2012, was best known for playing Winston Churchill in the 1972 film Young Winston, as well as for his roles in Judge John Deed and The Tudors.
© ShutterstockAs for Sophie, the actress played the recurring role of Dr Helen Trent in the long-running ITV drama Heartbeat, and also portrayed Sophia Byrne in Holby City.
