husband

20 August 2025

Aubrey Plaza has described her grief as “a giant ocean of awfulness” following the death of her estranged husband, Jeff Baena.

Jeff Baena died by suicide in January and every day has been a ‘struggle’ since for his estranged wife Aubrey Plaza

The screenwriter and director took his own life on January 3, aged 47, with his body discovered at his home in Los Angeles, California, by his dog walker.

Plaza – who had separated from Baena in September 2024 – admits every day is a “struggle” as she continues to mourn the painful loss seven months on.

Asked how she is doing by her Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler on her Good Hang 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 okay, but it’s like a daily struggle, obviously.”

She continued: “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.

“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.”

Breaking her silence on his death three days later, Plaza had said in a statement given to People: “This is an unimaginable tragedy.

“We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support.

“Please respect our privacy during this time.”