Comedian Michael McIntyre has opened up about the tumultuous beginnings of his marriage to Kitty Ward. The couple exchanged vows in a Somerset ceremony back in 2003, but not without overcoming some serious family objections.
The stand-up star was smitten from the moment he met Kitty via a mutual acquaintance, admitting: “She was the girl I had been looking for.” Yet, his grandmother was far from supportive of his newfound love.
“Unfortunately my grandma didn’t really like it when I got a girlfriend,” he divulged on BBC Radio 4’s 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.”
Michael, now 48, reflected on how he remained undeterred by his grandmother’s meddling as he was utterly captivated by Kitty, who works as an aromatherapist, from the outset.
“In the romantic comedy that was my life, this would have made a good ending,” he pondered in his memoir Life and Laughing. 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.”
Yet, Kitty’s feelings evolved quickly, reports Somerset Live. “We might have kissed on our first date,” Michael confessed on The Jonathan Ross Show. “That was it for me. I announced to everybody that I’m in love and I’m going to marry this girl.”
The duo celebrated their wedding in Somerset in 2003 and are now proud parents of two boys, Lucas and Oscar. While Kitty hails from a renowned family and favours a quiet life, she continues to play a significant role in Michael’s life.
Kitty’s father was the accomplished actor Simon Ward, famed for his parts in legendary films like The Three Musketeers from 1973 and Young Winston from 1972 where he performed alongside acting powerhouses Oliver Reed and Christopher Lee.
Speaking on his relationship with his late father-in-law, who died in 2012 aged 70, Michael said: “He was one of my closest friends,” He would come to my gigs in the early days.
Sophie Ward, Kitty’s sister, has established herself in the acting world, landing roles in 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes and 2011’s Jane Eyre. On top of her illustrious acting career, Sophie is also a successful author.
