My Journey to Adrienne

Fifteen years ago, my wife — acclaimed actor and filmmaker Adrienne Shelly — was brutally murdered. Her killer staged it as a suicide. It took five harrowing days and some dedicated, old-fashioned police work before an arrest was made. Her shocking death profoundly changed how I viewed the world and redefined the rest of my life. My documentary Adrienne, which premieres December 1 on HBO and HBO Max, is the manifestation of that transformation.Adrienne was in the proverbial prime of her life. She was a wife, a mother, and with her film Waitress, was on the cusp of experiencing the successful work-life balance she’d feared wasn’t possible but could finally see on her horizon.In just 24 hours, I went from being the happiest guy on the planet to living the worst nightmare imaginable. I was left with our two-year-old daughter, Sophie. All I could think was, “What am I gonna do… what am I gonna do?”But in the days that followed, it became clear what I had to do: first, I needed to put aside...