It’s been nearly seven months since Aubrey Plaza lost her husband Jeff Baena to suicide, and, unfortunately, getting by is still a daily struggle for the “Parks and Recreation” star.
The actress stopped by Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast on Tuesday, where she opened up about her grief, aptly comparing it to this year’s “The Gorge.”
“You’ve had this terrible, terrible tragic year. You lost your husband. You’ve been dealing with that and you’ve been looking for all different ways to feel and find support,” Poehler kindly broached the topic. “On behalf of all the people who feel they know you and the people who do know you, how are you feeling today?”
“Right in this very, very present moment I feel happy to be with you,” Plaza responded. “I feel, overall, I’m here and I’m functioning and I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m OK. But, it’s a daily struggle, obviously.”
“This is like a really dumb analogy, and it was kind of a joke at a certain point, but I actually mean it — did you see that movie, ‘The Gorge?’” she asked. “It’s like an alien movie with Miles Teller, but 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 monster people that are trying to get them.”
“I swear, when I watched it, I was like, that feels like what my grief is like — or what grief could be like — at all times there’s a giant ocean of awfulness that’s right there and I can see it,” Plaza concluded. “Sometimes I just want to dive into it and be in it and sometimes I just look at it and sometimes I 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 and Anya Taylor-Joy.”
Indie filmmaker Baena was found dead in his Los Angeles home in January at age 47. His death was ruled a suicide.
“This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support,” Plaza and their families shared in an initial statement. “Please respect our privacy during this time.”
The couple had been together since 2011, but kept their marriage private until 2021. They collaborated on nearly all of Baena’s films, including “Life After Beth,” “Joshy,” “The Little Hours” and “Spin Me Round.”
Plaza and Baena separated in September 2024 after “experiencing recent marital difficulties,” according to The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner–Coroner’s report.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988 is a free, 24/7 confidential service that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information and local resources.
