Aubrey Plaza breaks silence on late husband’s death, opens up about grief

Aubrey Plaza is opening up about her grief following the death of her late husband Jeff Baena earlier this year.

Plaza touched on the topic during a recent appearance on her former Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler‘s podcast.

“I think, like, I’m OK. But you know, it’s like a daily struggle,” Plaza told Poehler.

Baena, a film director and screenwriter, died in January at the age of 47. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Baena’s death to ABC News at the time and said Baena had died of suicide.

Plaza told Poehler that she felt “happy” to be recording the podcast together and was “grateful” to be alive.

“Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you,” said Plaza. “I feel, overall, I’m here and I’m functioning — and I feel, you know, like I feel really grateful to be moving through the world.”

The 41-year-old also compared grief and loss to the 2025 thriller The Gorge, which starred Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as two operatives who get sent to guard opposite sides of a mysterious gorge.

“In the movie … there’s a cliff on one side, and then there’s a cliff on the other side, and then there’s [a] gorge in between, and it’s filled with all these, like, monster people that are trying to get them,” Plaza explained. “I swear, when I watched it, I was like, ‘That feels like what my grief is like’ … or what grief could be like, where it’s like, at all times, there’s a giant ocean of just awfulness that’s, like, right there, and I can see it. And like, sometimes, I just want to just dive into it and just be in it. And then sometimes, I just look at it. And then sometimes, I’m like, I just try to get away from it, but it’s always there. It’s just always there, and the monster people are trying to get me, like Miles [Teller’s character].”

If you are or someone you know is experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org or dial the current toll free number 800-273-8255 [TALK].