Aubrey Plaza Opens Up About Grief After Husband’s Death
Seven months after the passing of her husband, director Jeff Baena, Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza opened up about her grief in a conversation with fellow actress Amy Poehler.
Speaking on the Tuesday, August 19 episode of Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Plaza described her healing process as ongoing.
“Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m okay, but it’s like a daily struggle, obviously,” said The White Lotus actress. She then continued, “At all times there’s like a giant ocean of awfulness, that’s like right there and I can see it. Sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just like be in it. Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it. But, it’s always there.”
Plaza, 41, began dating Baena in 2011. The two of them were then married in 2021, after 10 years together. In addition to their romantic relationship, they were also creatively collaborative. Baena made his directorial debut with the 2014 film Life After Beth, which starred Plaza in the lead role. Other films they worked on together include The Little Hours and Spin Me Round. The pair were allegedly separated at the time of his death.
On January 3, the director was found dead at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 47. Authorities later confirmed that he died by suicide, with no signs of foul play involved.
Since releasing a joint statement with Baena’s family calling his death “an unimaginable tragedy” and asking for privacy, Plaza has remained silent publicly, until now.
After comparing her grief to the movie The Gorge, Poehler later asked how Plaza, “deeply laughs and stays on the cliff, and not in the gorge.”
“A group of my women friends; we have, like, a text chain and we do Zooms and trips and those girls make me laugh really, really hard. We’ve all known each other for so long. That’s the best thing that makes me laugh. My funny friends,” replied the actress. She is set to star in The Heidi Fleiss Story, marking her first major project since the passing of her husband.