Aubrey Plaza Opens Up About Life After Husband Jeff Baena’s Death
Aubrey Plaza is speaking out about her life after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena. The “White Lotus” star shared her thoughts on the latest episode of her friend and former “Parks and Recreation” co-star Amy Poehler’s podcast, “Good Hang.”
Baena, a writer and director, died by suicide in January at the age of 47. He was known for his work on films like I Heart Huckabees and had collaborated with Plaza on the 2014 horror-comedy Life After Beth, the 2021 comedy series Cinema Toast, and the 2022 movie Spin Me Round.
On the podcast, Poehler asked Plaza how she was doing. Plaza answered, “In this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you. 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.”
Plaza also shared how she experiences grief. She compared it to a recent movie, The Gorge, starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. “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 a gorge in between and it’s filled with all these like 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,” Plaza said.
She described her grief as constant and overwhelming. “It’s 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.”
Plaza and Baena met during a game night in 2011 and began dating soon after. In 2021, Plaza announced on social media that they had gotten married. Baena proposed at a site in Zugarramurdi connected to the Basque witch trials, and the couple marked their tenth anniversary with a small backyard wedding.
The pair quietly separated in September 2024 after facing marital difficulties. Plaza stayed in New York while Baena began therapy following concerning remarks that led Plaza to call a friend for a welfare check.
On January 3, 2025, Baena’s body was found by his dog walker in his Los Angeles home. He was last known to be alive that morning and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirmed his death as suicide by hanging and noted he had no previous suicide attempts. Baena’s funeral took place on January 10, 2025, in Miami.
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