Seven Months After Her Husband's Death, Aubrey Plaza Opened Up About Her Grief In A Very Honest Way

Yahoo

3 hours ago

This post contains mentions of suicide.
Earlier this year, beloved indie filmmaker Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza's husband, died by suicide in his LA home. He was 47 years old.
Following his sudden death, Aubrey and his family issued a statement reading, "This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time."
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Then, almost a month later, Aubrey appeared during the 50th anniversary special for Saturday Night Live, where she introduced a performance by Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard. She made a subtle and special tribute to Jeff by wearing a tie-dye shirt. In 2021, Aubrey revealed that she and Jeff got really into tie-dying, and they wore handmade tie-dye pajamas for their wedding.
On The Drew Barrymore Show, Aubrey said, "So I decided that Jeff and I were going to wear tie-dye pajamas that he had made for us."
Since Jeff's death, Aubrey has remained out of the public eye except for some small appearances until this week. To promote her upcoming movie Honey Don't!, Aubrey appeared on Amy Poehler's podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler, and it marked the first time she's publicly talked about Jeff.
While it would've been extremely valid not to discuss Jeff's death on the podcast, Amy elected to talk about it upfront. "To just get it out of the way," Amy began. "People want to see you and want to see how you are. They love you. They love you, and they want to see you."
Amy continued, saying, "You've had this terrible, terrible, tragic year. You've lost your husband. You've been dealing with that, and you've been looking for all different ways in which to feel and find support. And I think, on behalf of all the people who feel like they know you and the people who do know you, how are you feeling today?"
Taking a deep breath, Aubrey said, "I mean, right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you. Overall, I'm here and I'm functioning, and I feel, you know, I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think, like, I'm okay. But, you know, it's like a daily struggle, obviously."
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Aubrey then dove into a pretty perfect analogy for her grief, comparing it to the 2025 sci-fi film The Gorge, starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.
"In the movie, there's like a cliff on one side and then there's a cliff on the other side, and there's a gorge in between, and it's filled with all these monster people trying to get them," Aubrey explained. "And, like, I swear, when I watched it, I was like, That feels what my grief is like. Or what grief could be like."
She continued, "Where it's like, at all times there's a giant, like, ocean of just awfulness that's right there, and I can see it, and sometimes I just want to dive into it and just be in it. And then, sometimes I just look at it. And then sometimes I try to get away from it, but it's always there."
As someone who is personally still in the early stages of grief over the death of my mom last year, I understood this analogy so perfectly because yes, that's exactly what it's like. Sometimes the grief consumes me, and I can't really plan when or where, and other times I'm seemingly fine.
There's a quote that's like, "Grief is like glitter. It clings to everything," and I think that's so true. There are little specs of grief glitter everywhere on me and in my daily life, but others might not see it; tiny pieces of it are everywhere.
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After Aubrey explained this, Amy did a beautiful job segueing to the next topic, and the rest of Aubrey's podcast appearance was about how she fell in love with comedy, their work together on Parks and Rec, Aubrey's other projects like Agatha All Along, and much more.
Following the conclusion of their conversation, during Amy's final segment titled "Poehler Plunge," Amy took the time to spotlight the movies that Aubrey and Jeff made together, saying, "They are all really great, beautiful, funny films that you should check out and check out Jeff Baena's work. He's an incredible writer and director, and his work is really special."
She also highlighted the National Suicide and Crisis Prevention Lifeline at 988 and Spotify's mental health resources.
After Aubrey's episode of Good Hang dropped, many took to the comments and X, formerly Twitter, to express their gratitude for how delicately and perfectly Amy handled discussing Jeff with Aubrey. One popular comment on YouTube read, "The way Amy was the best in approaching Aubrey's grief and where she is at right now, and also bringing levity and humor with respect. Class act! That is a friend."
Another echoed the sentiment, saying, "Props to Amy for her people skills. Knowing when a moment needs space but also when you can make it lighter by jokes and laughter is such an amazing skill to have ❤️ sending continuous love to Aubrey."
And more chimed in throughout the YouTube comments, writing, "I also lost my partner this year and i didn't expect this episode to be so comforting. I thought they would just ignore Aubrey's grief as that is what most of my friends have done. It was nice to see everyone be so honest about it and not afraid of it."
"Aubrey's analogy on grief absolutely wrecked me, It's so spot on. I have never ever ever been able to describe grief or what it feels like until this perfect analogy!!!!!! You ladies are everything. So grateful to be able to watch this <3"
"I love that Amy at the end of the podcast is sharing Jeff filmography and encouraging people to watch. His movies will always be with us. I hope Aubrey finds peace, sending so much love to her"
"Amy is so protective of Aubrey and clearly loves her so much. I'm so glad she could give Aubrey some space to come back into the public eye on her own terms. ❤️"
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You can watch Aubrey's full appearance on Good Hang with Amy Poehler below:
Dial 988 in the United States to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The 988 Lifeline is available 24/7/365. Your conversations are free and confidential. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386.
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Aubrey Plaza Paid Seriously Poignant Tribute To Her Late Husband Jeff Baena As She Made Her First Public Appearance Since His Tragic DeathStephanie Soteriou · Feb. 17, 2025
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