Inside Michael McIntyre's family life: from 20-year marriage to famous in-laws

Michael McIntyre is undoubtedly one of the UK's most popular entertainers, and so his cancellation of upcoming tour dates as he recovers from surgery is a blow to many. Having started out on the British stand-up comedy circuit, Michael went on to forge a successful TV career, with his hit BBC programmes such as and

The Wheel host shares two sons with his wife Kitty

    Michael McIntyre is undoubtedly one of the UK's most popular entertainers, and so his cancellation of upcoming tour dates as he recovers from surgery is a blow to many. Having started out on the British stand-up comedy circuit, Michael went on to forge a successful TV career, with his hit BBC programmes such as and 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. 

    WATCH: Are you a fan of The Wheel?

    Michael McIntyre's 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. 

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    Besotted 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, , 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."

    While 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."

    The comedian went on to detail the final time he saw his grandmother, which he said was "horrific". "I went round there and we had a big row and I left. She slammed the door and started throwing £50 notes through the letter box and screaming at me, 'This is all you want, take it!'

    "That was it. That was the last time I saw her and she died a few years later."

    Despite 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. 

    They went on to welcome two sons, Lucas and Oscar, who are often referenced in Michael's stand-up routines. 

    In 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."

    The family reside in Hampstead, London.

    Michael McIntyre's 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 , as well as for his roles in and

    As for Sophie, the actress played the recurring role of Dr Helen Trent in the long-running ITV drama , and also portrayed Sophia Byrne in

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