Patton Oswalt Reveals His Daughter’s Reaction to His Wife’s Death in New Standup Special

Patton Oswalt goes into the the death of his late wife Michelle McNamara, including his daughter’s reaction to the passing, in his latest Netflix comedy special, Patton Oswalt: Annihilation.

McNamara died suddenly in April 2016 leaving Oswalt a widower raising a young daughter, Alice, alone.

“Second worst day of my life was when my wife passed away,” he said. “The worst day of my life was the day after, when I had to tell our daughter my wife passed away when she was at school. So in between screaming and vomiting and freaking out, I talked to the school and I told them what happened and what do I do.”

Up Next: Patton Oswalt Pens Emotional Tribute To His Wife One Year After Her Death

After talking with Alice’s principal, Oswalt decided to wait until the next day and take her out for a fun morning with him before breaking the news.

“In the morning, we went and had fun and then, ugh, I sat down,” he said. “I sat down with my daughter and then I looked…I looked at my daughter and destroyed her world. I had to look at this little girl that was everything to me, and take everything from her. That’s going to be longer for me to recover from then my wife passing away.”

More: Patton Oswalt, Meredith Salenger Respond to Engagement Critics

He then goes into her reaction to her mother’s death. She was upset at first, and then quickly began to tell her father she wanted things to get back to normal.

“After she calmed down, she said ‘I want to go school on Monday. I want to go school on Monday,’” Oswalt said. “What I realized she was saying was ‘I want some normalcy; if my mom were here, I’d be going to school on Monday…even if it’s an illusion, I’m going to try and grab a bit of that.’”

Oswalt has since become engaged to Meredith Salanger. Alice is apparently feeling “happy and loved” despite the tragedy she’s faced.

Patton Oswalt: Annihilation is currently streaming on Netflix.