Aubrey Plaza On Being A Widow At 41 And Her Husband, Jeff Baena's Suicide, Calls It 'Daily Struggle'

American actress, Aubrey Plaza first time opened up about dealing with her husband, Jeff Baena's suicide at the age 47.

Aubrey Plaza is an American actress, comedian, and producer. This year made her life upside down after her husband, Jeff Baenas, who was a writer and director, died by suicide on January 3, 2025. The loss was deep, and the grief almost consumed Aubrey, who is known for making people laugh across the world. Recently, she talked about the loss at length.

Aubrey Plaza addressed her husband's death and the pain

Recently, Aubrey sat for an interview with her Parks and Recreation co-star, Amy Poehler, for her podcast, Good Hang. The 41-year-old actress talked about grief and how it feels like a giant ocean of just awfulness. Poehler revealed that Aubrey's dog, Frankie, has been acting as the White Lotus actress' therapy dog. The host said:

"Just to get it out the way, people want to see you and want to see how you are, they love you. 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."

Aubrey compared her grief to the 2025 movie, The Gorge. She shared that it was an alien movie featuring a cliff on one side and another on the other, with a gorge in between filled with monsters that are trying to get them. Explaining herself, Aubrey said:

"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? It's like [an] alien movie or something with Miles Teller. In the movie, there's like a cliff on one side and there's a cliff on the other side, then there's gorge in between and it's filled with all these like monster people that are trying to get them."

Aubrey added that when she watched it, she realised her grief felt like that. It looks like a giant ocean of awfulness. She keeps feeling the pain, which is always there. She said:

"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 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."

More about Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena

Aubrey fell in love with Jeff in 2011, and they started dating. Also, she kept her personal life extremely private. And it was in May 2021, when fans got to know about her marriage to Jeff after she referred to him as her 'darling husband' in an Instagram post. Later, she confirmed in an interview with People that they were legally married.

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After Jeff's death, Aubrey's family released a statement and called it an unimaginable tragedy. She expressed her gratitude to everyone who offered their support in the most difficult phase of her life, and requested privacy during the tough times. 

We pray for Aubrey to overcome the pain of losing her husband.

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