'Grief doesn't get a chance to organise itself': Patton Oswalt reveals comedy is helping him cope with wife's death
Patton Oswalt says comedy is helping him to cope with his wife Michelle McNamara's death.
The Ratatouille star's spouse of 11 years passed away in her sleep at their home in Los Angeles six months ago and Patton admitted getting back to stand-up comedy and sharing his grief with the audience has been a comfort.
Speaking on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he said: 'I think it's a way for me to - it feels like you've summoned this virus and you've become this avatar of loss - to de-summon it the more you talk openly about what it is and put more light onto it, people can see all the angles and say, "Oh, OK. That is horrible, but there's life on either side of it and it's somehow manageable."
Grieving: Patton Oswalt has revealed that comedy is helping him to cope with his wife Michelle McNamara's death
'There are these really long messages that I'll get, and you see the length of the message is them beginning to talk about it and write about it and then it just comes pouring out. If you don't talk about it, then grief really gets to set up and fortify its position inside of you and begin to immobilise you.
'But the more you talk, the more you expose it to the air and to the light. Grief doesn't get a chance to organise itself, and then you can maybe move on a little better, a little easier. That's been my experience is these six months.'
A cause of death has not yet been established but Patton has previously said he believes the crime writer died from an accidental Xanax overdose.
He told the New York Times: 'I have a feeling it might have been an overdose. That's what the paramedics there were saying while I was screaming and throwing up.'
RIP: The 'Ratatouille' star's spouse of 11 years passed away in her sleep at their home in Los Angeles six months ago (pictured December 2011)
'I was literally blinking trying to get out of this.'
Michelle - who leaves behind the couple's seven-year-old daughter Alice - was the founder of the website True Crime Diary, which covers breaking stories and old unsolved crimes otherwise known as cold cases.
She started the website almost by chance, because she wanted to satisfy her own curiosity of unsolved crimes.
She said previously: 'I wanted to get more involved in the cases that were fuelling my own curiosity.
'It's the ones that really don't get that much attention that interest me because I think what's interesting about them is there's more stuff to be unearthed that hasn't been in the public yet and you can do it.'
Devatsated: The crime writer left behind the couple's seven-year-old daughter Alice
Most watched News videos
- 'You should be my biggest fan' Gina Miller tells Farage
- Donald Trump dramatically rushed off stage by secret service
- Female student loses it and beats student over RINGTONE
- Paw-somely cute moment Belle the dog gives kisses to baby boy
- 'My dad OWNS your a***': School teacher hurls abuse at doorman
- Alec Baldwin's Trump kisses the FBI, Putin and the KKK on SNL
- Is this the creepy moment the corpse of a girl OPENS her eyes?
- Woman kicks man to the floor after he gropes her in supermarket
- Dog gets a big surprise when he eats a rather sour sweet
- 'You should be ashamed of yourself': Leanne Wood to Farage
- Shocking moment lorry driver using his mobile kills family
- The paw that rocks the cradle: Dog gently soothes baby
- Nigel Farage warns there could be RIOTS as he clashes with...
- The Donald is rushed off the stage by Secret Service while...
- 'My dad f****** owns your a**': Teacher who launched a foul...
- Boy, 12, repeatedly raped his nine-year-old sister after...
- Britain shivers under the first snows of winter as...
- What a shambles! Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit 'red lines' are shot...
- Putin's new 'super tank': British intelligence warns Russian...
- ‘You can’t review 650,000 new emails in eight days!’ Furious...
- Company car drivers face paying thousands more in tax under...
- Chelsea Clinton 'used Foundation resources for wedding',...
- Adorable video shows the moment American bulldog Belle...
- 'I'd throw her on that bed': Young woman's horror as she is...