Patton Oswalt Dedicates Emmy Win to Late Wife Michelle McNamara, Has His Own After-Party at Arby's

Patton Oswalt had some heartbreaking words backstage at the Emmy Awards, dedicating his award to his late wife, who died in April.

Oswalt won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, and paid tribute to true crime writer Michelle McNamara, whom he was marred to since 2005. McNamara died in her sleep in their Los Angeles home. She was 46 years ago.

"Every bit of growth that I've had in my career, especially in my writing and my performing, came because I met Michelle McNamara," Oswalt, 47, told reporters. "Because I met and married this woman who just was so much wiser and self-actualized and aware of life than I was. I had convinced myself that I was aware and self-actualized and mature, but then I met the real deal."

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"To have that ripped out of my life the way that it has this year -- I’m not trying to say that this is meaningless, but everything seems like the lights have been turned down 50 percent on everything since she's gone," he continued. "It's just going to be a long, long time before I can be the kind of person she made me again."

McNamara, a Notre Dame graduate, was the founder of the website True Crime Diary and its corresponding podcast. Aside from Oswalt, she is also survived by their 7-year-old daughter, Alice, whom Oswalt thanked during his Emmys acceptance speech onstage.

Later on in the night, the Veep actor posted a solo picture of himself at an empty Arby's with his Emmy award and a bottle of wine, joking, "This #Emmys after party is off da CHAIN!"

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Last month, Oswalt shared a powerful Facebook post about grief, and vowed to finish his late wife's unpublished book about one of California's most prolific serial killers, known as the Golden State Killer.

"I was face-down and frozen for weeks," he wrote. "It's 102 days later, and I can confidently say I have reached a point where I'm crawling. Which, objectively, is an improvement. Maybe 102 days later I'll be walking."

" ... I'm going to start telling jokes again soon," he added. "And writing. And acting in stuff and making things I like and working with friends on projects and do all the stuff I was always so privileged to get to do before the air caught fire around me and the sun died."

Watch below:

Comedian Patton Oswalt Pens Emotional Essay About Grief 102 Days After His Wife's Death

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