The Emmy awards usually stir controversy, give a glimpse of the hottest trends on the red carpet and honor the best of the best in the television industry. Sometimes though, winners deliver moving speeches that tug at viewers’ heartstrings. One such person at the 2016 Emmy Awards was comedian Patton Oswalt. He delivered a moving speech after he won an Emmy for the Netflix special “Patton Oswalt: Talking For Clapping.”

For those who don’t know, Oswalt lost his wife, Michelle McNamara, in April this year. The 47-year-old dedicated his Emmy win to 46-year-old McNamara, who passed in her sleep. Oswalt’s publicist hadn’t told the Associated Press the cause behind his wife’s shocking death. The publicist simply stated that her passing “was a complete shock to her family and friends, who loved her dearly.”

McNamara was a true crime writer who was interested in cold cases and murder stories. She started a website called True Crime Diary in order to satisfy her own curiosity and attempt to solve cold cases using facts. She penned the story of the 1976 murder of nurse Melanie Howell and the Golden State Killer.

After winning an Emmy, Oswalt took to stage to dedicate his win to his late wife, “I want to share this with two people. My daughter Alice who is waiting at home. And the other one is waiting somewhere else, I hope.”

via GIPHY

Backstage, after bagging the award for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special, the comedian told reporters (via Entertainment Weekly), “Every bit of growth that I’ve had in my career, especially in my writing and in my performing, came because I met Michelle McNamara,” he said, “So to have that ripped out of my life the way it has this year … I’m not trying to say this is meaningless, but everything seems like the lights have been turned down 50 percent on everything since she’s gone. It’s just going to be a long, long time before I can be the kind of person that she made me again.

Watch the heartwarming speech below (uploaded via Popsugar):

In August, 102 days after McNamara passed away, Oswalt shared a moving Facebook post where he compared grief to depression. He also stated, “And I’m going to start telling jokes again soon. 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. It’s all I knew how to do before I met Michelle. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do now without her.”

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