Healing Day by Day: Aubrey Plaza’s Candid Conversation with Amy Poehler
When actress Aubrey Plaza appeared on her close friend Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang in mid-August 2025, she used that moment not just to promote her upcoming work, but to speak candidly about the gut-wrenching void left by losing her husband, filmmaker Jeff Baena.
A Turning Point in a Safe Space
Plaza has largely stayed quiet in public since Jeff Baena’s death by suicide on January 3, 2025—just months after the couple had quietly separated in September 2024. But on the August 19 episode of Good Hang, hosted by former Parks and Recreation co-star and lifelong friend Amy Poehler, Plaza made a deliberate choice to address her grief head-on in a safe, supportive setting.
Amy began gently, acknowledging the year Plaza had endured, saying, “On behalf of all the people who feel like they know you … how are you feeling today?” Plaza paused, and then replied with both fragility and strength: “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. It’s like a daily struggle, obviously.”
A Vivid Metaphor for Grief
Finding words for grief isn’t easy. Plaza reached for an unlikely reference—Apple TV+’s sci-fi thriller The Gorge—to convey how she feels. She described watching the film, set between two cliffs with a monster-filled chasm in between, and thinking: “That’s what my grief feels like.” She painted a haunting image of a looming "ocean of awfulness" and "monster people" that at all times threaten to drag her into despair. It’s a "really dumb analogy," she laughed, but one that captured the relentless, unpredictable nature of sorrow.
Finding Light in Community
Then, in the gentle rhythm of the conversation, Plaza turned to what offers her solace: her circle of friends. She spoke of video calls, texts and shared trips with her close-knit group, friends who make her laugh so hard it catches her breath. In a moment where grief feels like an ever-present weight, humor and companionship provide a bridge back to feeling alive.
Why This Matters
This candid chat gives audiences a raw yet hopeful window into what mourning looks like for someone learning to breathe again. It’s not about finding closure, but about showing up—functioning and feeling grateful, even as the struggle persists. And the platform matters: Poehler’s Good Hang provides a backdrop of comfort, making this moment less media spectacle and more personal confession.
What It Doesn’t Forget
Plaza and Baena had been together since 2011 and married in 2021 in a quiet backyard ceremony celebrating their ten years together. Their creative relationship bore multiple projects—Life After Beth, The Little Hours, Spin Me Round—that blended irony, dark comedy, and devotion.
The shocking nature of Baena's death, ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, cast a shadow over their separation and the months that followed. Plaza’s first major public appearance following the tragedy was the SNL50 special in February, where she paid tribute to Baena with a meaningful gesture—wearing a tie-dye shirt like the one from their wedding.
Looking Ahead
Grief isn’t linear. What emerges here is Plaza’s willingness to share how she keeps moving—anchored by authentic friendships, small joys, and the act of naming her pain. As she also prepares to release her new film, Honey Don’t!, she’s stepping back into the spotlight on her terms.
This conversation isn’t a healing moment—it’s a moment of reckoning, of presence. And perhaps that’s what people need most: to know that grief can sit next to gratitude, and both can co-exist on the same day.
