Aubrey Plaza opens up about grieving husband’s death: ‘It’s a daily struggle, obviously’

Actor Aubrey Plaza appeared on Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang on Tuesday, opening up about the death of her husband, Jeff Baena.

Baena, a director and writer behind indie successes ranging from absurdist drama I Heart Huckabees to black comedy The Little Hours, died in January at age 47. His death was ruled a suicide. 

“People want to see you and see how you are,” Poehler said early in the interview. “You’ve had this terrible, terrible tragic year.… On behalf of all the people that feel like they know you, and the people who do know you, how are you feeling today?”

“Overall I’m here and I’m functioning, and I feel really grateful to be moving through the world,” Plaza responded. “I’m OK. But, you know, it’s a daily struggle, obviously.”

Plaza then compared the experience of grief to the Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy-led movie The Gorge. That 2025 film, she explained, featured a pit full of violence, monsters and darkness surrounded by two tall cliffs.

“That feels what my grief is like,” she said. “At all times, there’s a giant ocean of awfulness that’s right there, and I can see it.

“And sometimes, I just want to dive into it and be in it. And sometimes, I just look at it. And sometimes, I just try to get away from it. But it’s always there, and the monster people are trying to get me. Like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.”

The pair then discussed other topics for much of the hour, from growing up, to interning at Saturday Night Live to when the two first met while filming promos for Parks and Recreation.

Near the end of the episode, Poehler returned to the earlier discussion; after Plaza admitted she doesn’t often laugh when watching comedy, Poehler asked Plaza what does make her laugh. “How do you stay above the line?” Poehler asked. “How do you stay on the cliff and not in the gorge?”

It was a question, Poehler admitted, that likely “takes on more import” given Plaza’s year. In response, Plaza cited a group of close friends: members of her improv group, Bombardo.

“We have a text chain, we do Zooms and we do trips — those girls make me laugh really, really hard,” she said. “That’s the best thing that makes me laugh: all my funny friends.”

Plaza appeared on the podcast to promote her recent film, Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t! — her first film since Baena’s death. In it, a small-town private investigator played by Margaret Qualley stumbles upon a series of mysterious deaths connected to a local church. Plaza plays a police officer in the film, which opens this Friday. Recently, she appeared in the Marvel series Agatha All Along, surrealist comedy My Old Ass and the Francis Ford Coppola epic Megalopolis. 

Baena and Plaza were frequent collaborators in the movie business. Baena had been dating Plaza for three years before she starred in his 2014 directorial debut, the zombie comedy Life After Beth. His next film, 2016’s Joshy, featured Thomas Middleditch as a man who gets together with friends months after his fiancée killed herself. 

In a 2017 interview with Marc Maron, Baena said that it was “amazing” to work with Plaza, who appeared in four of his five films.

“The opportunities to create together, to do something creative where we’re both fulfilled, it’s like how rare is that? She’s down and she’s so talented, so I’m really lucky,” Baena said.

If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where to get help:

This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you’re worried about.