Aubrey Plaza gives first interview after husband Jeff Baena’s Death
Plaza talked about her late husband Jeff Baena during an appearance on her friend and former co-star Amy Poehler’s podcast.
WASHINGTON — Aubrey Plaza is opening up about the death of her husband Jeff Baena for the first time, seven months after the screenwriter and director’s body was found in his Los Angeles home.
Plaza appeared on “Good Hang,” the podcast hosted by her friend and former “Parks and Recreation” co-star Amy Poehler, to promote her upcoming film “Honey Don’t.” But Poehler started their talk on a deeply personal note.
“People wanna see you and see how you are,” she said. “You had this terrible, terrible, tragic year. You lost your husband, and you’ve been dealing with that and you’ve been looking for all the different ways to feel and to find support.”
Plaza, petting her dog Frankie, said she was still processing her feelings.
“Overall I’m here and I’m functioning and I feel very grateful to be moving through the world,” Plaza said. “It’s like a daily struggle.”
Baena was found dead on Jan. 3 and officials ruled his death a suicide. He was 47.
Plaza, who had been married to him since 2021, compared her grief to the 2025 film, “The Gorge,” saying she related to the film’s setting.
“That is what my grief is like, or what grief could be like, where at all times there’s a giant ocean of awfulness that’s right there and I can just see it,” Plaza said. “And sometimes I just want to dive into it and be in it, and sometimes I look at it and I’m like ‘I’ve got to get away from it.'”
“The Gorge” stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as operatives on opposite sides of a monster-filled valley tasked with keeping the creatures in. Plaza said she instantly connected with their characters when watching the movie, likening the plot to her navigating through life.
“It’s just always there, and monster people are trying to get me, like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.”
Baena and Plaza, who started dating in 2010, were reportedly separated when he died. But they were also frequent collaborators, working together on projects like 2014’s “Life after Beth” and 2022’s “Spin Me Round.”
Poehler ended the episode encouraging viewers to watch their “beautiful, funny” films, and praised Baena as an “incredible writer and director, and his work is really special.”
If you or a loved one is having thoughts of suicide, support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988, or online via the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988lifeline.org.