Aubrey Plaza breaks silence on husband Jeff Baena's death - 'Grief is a daily juggle'

American actress Aubrey Plaza has said it is a "daily juggle" following the death of her estranged husband Jeff Baena at the start of this year.

The filmmaker died in January at the age of 47, with the Los Angeles County medical examiner concluding he took his own life. The director and screenwriter was found at a home close to the Fern Dell Nature Trail near the Hollywood Hills, with the cause of his death determined as hanging.

Aubrey released a statement with Jeff's family when his death was confirmed in January but this marks the first time she has opened up about her grief. The Agatha All Along star wore a subtle tribute to her late spouse on her return to TV in February when she appeared on Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary show.

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The star, who made her red carpet return at the Cannes Film Festival in May, discussed dealing with grief during an appearance on her Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler’s podcast.

She said: "Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you. Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m ok, but it’s like a daily struggle, obviously."

She told Amy’s Good Hang podcast that she compared her grief to the 2025 movie The Gorge, which stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.

She 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? … In the movie, there’s a cliff on one side and there’s a cliff on the other side, 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 like a giant ocean of awfulness, that’s 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."

Aubrey separated from Jeff in September 2024, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Coroner Investigator. The couple had been in a relationship since around 2011 and they married a decade later.

The actress told The Ellen DeGeneres Show in December 2021 that they made the decision to tie the knot after getting "a little bored one night" during the Covid pandemic. The pair worked together on the 2014 horror film Life After Beth and 2017 historical comedy The Little Hours.

During a chat with Drew Barrymore the same month, Aubrey revealed what she wore on her wedding day. "Jeff got really into tie-dying during the [coronavirus] quarantine, so I decided that Jeff and I were going to wear tie-dye pajamas that he had made for us," she explained. It's assumed the tie-dye shirt she donned on SNL in February was one created by Jeff.

Aubrey is best known for her role as April in the workplace comedy Parks and Recreation, in which Poehler played politician Leslie Knope. She is also famous for her role in the second series of The White Lotus and the Marvel series Agatha All Along. She has also starred in Hollywood films including Megalopolis, My Old Ass, Ingrid Goes West, Dirty Grandpa and Emily The Criminal.

Baena wrote 2020 thriller Horse Girl, starring Alison Brie, and 2022 dark comedy Spin Me Round, both of which he also directed, as well as 2004 comedy I Heart Huckabees, starring Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman and Mark Wahlberg.

He also created the anthology comedy series Cinema Toast, which had an episode directed by Plaza and another starring Community actress Alison Brie.

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