Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage
What a difference two years has made forPatton Oswalt.
Though he won his first Emmy that year — an outstanding writing for a variety special honor given to him in celebration of his Netflix special,Talking for Clapping —the star had a sullen expression on his face. The awards show followed not long after his late wife, crime writerMichelle McNamara, haddied unexpectedly in her sleepin April 2016 at age 46.
“Two years ago versus today,” Oswalt captioned the images. “No Emmy this time, but a life that’s turned pure gold thanks to @MeredthSalenger.”
Missing from the photo was Oswalt’s daughter Alice Rigney, 9 — his only child withMcNamara. She was instrumental in helping Oswalt through his grief after McNamara’s passing.
“If I hadn’thad a daughter and my wife died, we wouldn’t be talking right now. I’m not saying I would be dead, but I would be a shut-in alcoholic,” he revealed in a 2017 interview withPlayboy. “Everything would have shut down. I wouldn’t have been about anything. But with Alice, it was and is ‘You got to get up.’ ”
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Both Alice and McNamara got a shout-out in Oswalt’s 2016 Emmy’s speech. “I want to share this with two people,” he said. “One of them is my daughter Alice, waiting at home. The other one is… waiting somewhere else, I hope.”
Oswalttied the knot withSalenger, 48, in November 2017, four monthsafter their engagement. The duo hadgone public with their romancethat June.
“I’ve only ever felt that level of joy once before in my life, and it was so profound and perfect it felt greedy to ever wish for it again,” Oswalttold PEOPLE exclusivelyfollowing the couple’s nuptials.
He added, “But I did, so now all I can do is show Meredith a level of gratitude and love that’s greater than the joy she’s brought me, and my daughter Alice. Because this is a new level of joy, and a new life, and I’ll always strive to deserve it.”
source: people.com
