Aubrey Plaza Opens Up About Grief After Husband’s Tragic Death: “It’s a Daily Struggle”
Riley Carter here—just another millennial navigating the emotional rollercoaster of adulthood, one awkward silence at a time. So, when Aubrey Plaza stepped into Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast to talk about losing her husband, Jeff Baena, it wasn’t just a celebrity confession. It was a raw, unfiltered moment that felt less like a headline and more like a late-night text from someone who’s been up for 37 hours.
Plaza, 41, didn’t mince words. Sitting with her dog Frankie by her side, she admitted that while she’s “here and functioning,” the truth is far more complicated. “I feel really grateful to be moving through the world,” she said, “but it’s like a daily struggle, obviously.” That line? It landed harder than most people’s entire Instagram bios. And honestly, it should’ve come with a content warning.
What made the moment even more haunting was how she described grief—not as a wave, but as a gorge. A cinematic metaphor pulled straight from the 2025 horror film The Gorge, starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. “There’s a cliff on one side, a cliff on the other,” she explained. “And in between? Monsters trying to get you.” She paused. “I swear, when I watched it, I was like… that feels like what my grief is like.”
That’s not hyperbole. That’s therapy-level clarity wrapped in a dry-witted punchline. The image of grief as a narrow, terrifying passage flanked by sheer drops? It’s visceral. It’s accurate. And it’s exactly how many people feel when they’re mourning someone they loved deeply—especially when the loss comes so suddenly.
Jeff Baena, the filmmaker behind cult favorites like Life After Beth and The Little Hours, died by suicide in January at 47. He and Plaza had been together for over 13 years, married in 2021—though they never publicly announced it until Plaza casually referred to him as “my darling husband” on Instagram that May. Their separation four months before his death adds another layer of complexity, one that fans are still trying to process.
Plaza’s first public appearance since then? The Cannes Film Festival in May, where she premiered her new film, Honey Don’t!. She wore a sleek black dress, held her composure, and smiled—because that’s what we do, right? We show up. We pretend we’re okay. But inside? The gorge remains.
Her honesty on the podcast wasn’t performative. It was necessary. In a culture obsessed with curated joy and “manifesting positivity,” Plaza gave us permission to sit in the discomfort. To admit that some days, you don’t want to get out of bed. That sometimes, you just want to dive into the ocean of awfulness. And that’s okay.
If this hits too close to home, know this: help is available. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-TALK) and Crisis Text Line (741741) are there for you. You’re not alone—even if it feels like it.
Anyway, that’s the deal. Do with it what you will.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post
Generated by AI
