
The comic urges fellow sufferers to always speak up
Patton Oswalt revealed he is heavily relying on comedy to cope with the sudden loss of his wife, Michelle McNamara, earlier this year.
The comic icon’s spouse of 11 years died in her sleep and while he is undoubtedly having a hard time, making people laugh and sharing his grief has been therapeutic.
He shared on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert: “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, okay.
That is horrible, but there’s life on either side of it and it’s somehow manageable.’”
The star advices other sufferers to speak up and to never keep their grief inside as it would otherwise “immobilize you.”
He continued: “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 immobilize 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 organize itself, and then you can maybe move on a little better, a little easier. That’s been my experience in these six months.”
While the cause of death is not yet known, Patton believes an accidental Xanax overdose might be to blame.
He explained to 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.”
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