Aubrey Plaza has described her grief over husband Jeff Baena’s demise, likening it to “a large ocean of awfulness.”
The actor spoke on the podcast Good Cling with Amy Poehler, telling her former Parks and Recreation costar in her most detailed public remarks up to now that it’s been a every day wrestle to beat her grief. Author-director Baena’s January demise at age 47 was dominated a suicide.
“General, I’m right here and I’m functioning,” Plaza tells Poehler on the outset of their interview after being requested how she is coping. “I really feel actually grateful to be transferring via the world. I believe I’m OK. Nevertheless it’s like a every day wrestle, clearly.”
She likens her grief to a picture from an Apple TV+ horror film starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Pleasure.

Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and world wide, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you after they occur.
“Did you see that film The Gorge?” Plaza asks Poehler. “Within the film, there’s a cliff on one facet after which there’s a cliff on the opposite facet, and there’s a gorge in between, and its full of all these monster individuals attempting to get them,” Plaza says. “And I swear once I watched it I used to be like, ‘That seems like what my grief is like,’ or what grief may very well be like … the place it’s like always, there’s a large ocean of awfulness that’s proper there and I can see it.”
Plaza provides: “And typically I simply need to dive into it, and simply be in it, and typically I simply take a look at it. After which typically I attempt to get away from it. Nevertheless it’s simply all the time there, and the monster persons are attempting to get me, like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Pleasure.”
Baena was a author and director who steadily collaborated with Plaza. He cowrote David O. Russell’s 2004 movie I Coronary heart Huckabees and wrote and directed 5 of his personal movies. Plaza starred in his 2014 directorial debut, the zombie comedy Life After Beth.
After largely remaining silent since Baena’s demise, Plaza is now selling her new movie, Honey Don’t! The darkish comedy from director Ethan Coen has Margaret Qualley as a personal investigator wanting into nefarious goings-on in Bakersfield, California.
If you happen to or somebody you understand is in disaster and desires assist, sources can be found. In case of an emergency, please name 911 for fast assist.
For a listing of help providers in your space, go to the Canadian Affiliation for Suicide Prevention.
Be taught extra about the best way to assist somebody in disaster.
© 2025 The Canadian Press