Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
Aubrey Plaza recently shared a poignant insight into her experience with grief in her first interview after the passing of her husband earlier this year.
Jeff Baena, a screenwriter and director, tragically took his own life at his Los Angeles home in January, at the age of 47.
Following his untimely death, Plaza and the Baena/Stern family issued a joint statement to The Independent, stating: “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support.
“Please respect our privacy during this time.”
Plaza opened up about her journey since the loss during a recent appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast.
She shared with Poehler, her longtime friend and former Parks and Recreation co-star, “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.”
Plaza explained how the film helped her articulate her emotions regarding grief.
“I swear when I watched it, I was like that feels like what my grief is like … or what grief could be like,” she noted, according to People.
“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.”
Poehler mentioned how Plaza’s dog has provided comfort during these challenging months.
The couple started dating in 2011 and later got married in 2021. The White Lotus actress once revealed to Ellen DeGeneres that they decided to wed on a whim during the pandemic by using a ‘one-hour marriage’ site.
“I joked about getting married, and he was like, ‘Well, we probably couldn’t get married that fast.’ And I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to get married on our actual anniversary?’ And then I Googled it and I found onehourmarriage.com,” Plaza recalled.