Michael Bublé is known as the 'King of Christmas'. His real life is full of ups and downs.

At this time of year, it's hard to avoid Michael Bublé.

His voice is everywhere; on your radio, at the shops, in all those Christmas playlists Spotify keeps trying to get you to listen to.

And you're probably not that mad about it. Because as the meme goes, December means Bublé emerges from his hibernation cave, ready to serenade you with "Chriiiiistmaaaas, the snow's coming down" (it's not, Michael, we live in Australia — but who are we to burst his glorious holiday bubble?).

Side note: Here are the things Aussies never say at Christmas. Post continues below video.

What a time.

Bublé himself has gone on record to say he's not actually that keen on the King of Christmas title, but at this point it's so well cemented there's no chance he can get out of it.

He released a festive EP Let It Snow in 2003, but the album we all know so well (especially retail workers) is his Christmas album, titled... Christmas, released in 2011.

It was actually his fifth album, with his career starting decades earlier with a talent show, reality TV appearances and a chance encounter with a Canadian Prime Minister.

At age 18, Bublé, from Burnaby near Vancouver, entered a local talent contest and won, but was disqualified for being underage. Instead, the content organiser entered him in the Canadian Youth Talent Search — which he won.

For seven years after this, Bublé performed wherever he could including clubs, conventions, cruise ships, hotel lounges and shopping malls.

In 1996, Bublé appeared in a rogue TV movie called Death Game and in two episodes of The X-Files as an (un-credited) member of a submarine crew. In 1997, he became a regular guest and performer on a Canadian talk show.

But then Bublé, now 46, performed at a business party where Michael McSweeney, an aide to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, happened to be.

Impressed, McSweeney asked Bublé for a copy of his self-funded independent album which he showed to Mulroney and his wife.

The former PM enjoyed it enough to invite Bublé to sing at his daughter's wedding — attended by multi-Grammy Award-winning producer and record executive David Foster. Foster didn't know how to market Bublé's jazz sound and was initially reluctant to sign him, but after the singer moved to Los Angeles and raised $500,000 to cover production costs, Foster relented.

That's how Bublé's self-titled, major label debut album was born.

Foster's reservations were unwarranted, with the album becoming a worldwide hit and commercial success.

He released three other albums between 2005-2009 and during this time broke up with his long-time partner, actress Debbie Timuss in November 2005.

Michael Bublé and Emily Blunt.

Also in 2005, he attended the Logie Awards in Melbourne. It was here he met British actress Emily Blunt — but both were in relationships at the time.

Emily Blunt and Michael Bublé met in Melbourne. Image: Getty.

A few months later, both were single and Blunt found herself backstage at a Michael Bublé show.

In 2007, Bublé told The Times they hit it off very quickly.

"I tried to move slow because we'd both just come through break-ups but the truth is I was pretty much instantly infatuated.

"I mean, forgetting for a moment how beautiful she is, she's got this wonderful personality and... Anyway. Because I was very quickly so crazy about Emily, it felt like there was a lot riding on how it went when I first met her parents."

They broke up in 2008, and Blunt went on to be one half of... pretty much everyone's favourite couple, when she married John Krasinski in 2010.

Michael Bublé and Luisana Lopilato.

After the breakup, Bublé began dating Argentine actress Luisana Lopilato.

Michael Bublé and Luisana Lopilato. Image: Getty.

Lopilato attended a 2009 concert of Bublé's in Buenos Aires, when he saw her in the car park of the arena.

It just so happened that she was going to the same after-party as him, where they first met.

"Luisana was with a beautiful (male) friend, a movie star and when they came together, I thought they were together and I didn't want to be rude and hit on her so I spoke to him," Michael remembered in an interview on Spanish talk show El Hormiguero.

"And I was very nice and tried to find out if they were a couple, but I got very drunk, so finally I said to him, 'You know, your girlfriend is very beautiful', and he replied, 'No, she is not my girlfriend, she is into you'.

"And I thought, OK, I have a chance," he recalled.

In 2020, a friend of the couple told People: "The head of the label wanted to introduce Michael to Argentina's most famous actress. When he met her, he said it was love at first sight."

In the early days of their relationship, the couple say they relied on technology and bilingual friends to communicate.

"We would use a computer to translate and speak to each other," he told Access Hollywood.

They became engaged in November 2009 and married in March 2011.

In August 2013, Michael Bublé and Luisana Lopilato welcomed their first child together, Noah Bublé.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michael Bublé (@michaelbuble)

"My happiness is to be embedded with these two and they’re my whole world, so the truth is I wouldn’t be happy without them," Bublé told People in 2015.

"I find no fulfillment being that Hollywood story that you hear about; that artist who leaves his family on a search for the perfect career. That won't happen here.

"There will have to be a healthy balance and if there's not, then only one thing is going to have to have to suffer, and let me tell you it won’t be my family life.

In 2013, he and Lopilato announced the birth of their second son, Elias.

Michael Bublé and his son Noah's cancer diagnosis.

Later that year, the couple shared that Noah had been diagnosed with liver cancer at just three.

"We are devastated about the recent cancer diagnosis of our oldest son Noah who is currently undergoing treatment in the US," the singer said a statement on Facebook.

"We have always been very vocal about the importance of family and the love we have for our children. Luisana and I have put our careers on hold in order to devote all our time and attention to helping Noah get well."

Bublé cancelled the entirety of his unannounced tour and dedicated all of his time to helping Noah through chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Thankfully, Noah went into remission, and in 2018 Bublé returned to performing.

View this post on Instagram

"I truly thought I would never go back [to music]. I was done. It just seemed completely unimportant compared to what was going on with Noah," he told Stellar in 2018.

"I thought I had pretty good perspective; I think I've always been a pretty nice guy. I probably made the same mistakes anybody else had. But, man, suddenly there was great clarity," he added. "Things got very clear for me, very quickly. I live with no fear now. I've been to hell."

He told Today that same year there were times the family wish they hadn't woken up that day.

"There were a million times that my wife and I were just surviving, struggling to survive, and to breathe," he said.

"I much rather would have it have been me. Many times I wish that it had been."

In June 2024 for Father's Day, Bublé took to Instagram to celebrate his tight knit family.

"Being their papi is the greatest gift I could ever ask for!! Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing humans out there that we call dad," he shared in the sweet post.

But while the singer has a multitude of accolades to celebrate, it's his family he's most proud of. And they're proud of him, too.

In November 2024, Lopilato celebrated her husband after he received one of Canada's highest honours.

Lopilato gushed over Bublé after he received the International Horatio Alger Award for being one of Canada's "most respected leaders".

The awards recognise outstanding contributions in business, civics and culture — and Bublé has most definitely made a lasting impact.

Lopilato rewarded the Canadian entertainer with a kiss his win.

"Your effort and dedication are my inspiration. I love you ❤️✨💪🏻👏🏻," she shared on Instagram, along with photos of the pair beaming with the medallion.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Luisana Lopilato (@luisanalopilato)

Michael Bublé's Christmas album.

In late 2018, Bublé shocked everyone when he made a major admission.

He regretted making his much-loved Christmas album, which made him so synonymous with Christmas there is a meme that circulates every year, around November, of him emerging from a cave or hibernation.

He admitted on The Graham Norton Show that he sort of... hated it.

"You notice I don't find that as funny as everybody else?"

"Do you know how many asshole friends I have that think that I haven't [seen it] and send me it and go, 'Look at the meme they have!'

"I promise you, I get it and I think I hate you."

He said he somewhat regretted the album, because now there "really are" people who think he lives in a cave. But it's not all bad.

"I am so, so thankful… for the money. I can't wait to come out of my cave!"

More recently, he has leaned into the jokes a little more, making fun of them (and also... himself) in the process.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michael Bublé (@michaelbuble)

You heard the man.

Alexa, play 'Christmas' by Michael Bublé.

This article was originally published on December 24, 2020 and has been updated.

Feature image: Getty/Mamamia.