Aubrey Plaza Opens Up to Amy Poehler on Life After Her Husband’s Passing: “It’s a Daily Struggle”

Aubrey Plaza has spoken candidly about navigating life after the loss of her husband, filmmaker Jeff Baena.

The actress, 41, joined longtime friend Amy Poehler on a new episode of the Good Hang podcast, where she addressed how she’s been coping since Baena’s death earlier this year. He died by suicide on Jan. 3 at the age of 47.

Aubrey Plaza on Good Hang With Amy Poehler: “It’s Like a Daily Struggle”

Poehler, 53, gently opened the conversation by acknowledging the support Plaza has been receiving — even noting that her dog Frankie has stepped into the role of a “therapy dog.” The Parks and Recreation star told her friend, “Just to get it out the way, people want to see you and want to see how you are, they love you.”

 

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She continued, “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 in which to feel and find support.”

When asked directly how she was feeling in that moment, Plaza replied, “Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you.” She added, “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.”

During the interview, Plaza also shared a surprising metaphor for how grief has felt to her, drawing inspiration from the 2025 film The Gorge starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.

“This is 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?” Plaza asked Poehler before describing the film’s imagery of a chasm flanked by cliffs and filled with monstrous figures.

“I swear when I watched it, I was like that feels like what my grief is like … or what grief could be like,” she said. “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.”

Despite the weight of her grief, Plaza continues to move forward in both her personal and professional life. While reflecting honestly about her healing process, she also remains focused on her work, including her upcoming film Honey Don’t. The project marks another exciting step in her career, proving that even in the midst of loss, Plaza continues to channel her resilience and creativity into new stories.

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