Aubrey Plaza stopped by Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast on her promotional tour for the new Ethan Coen dark comedy “Honey Don’t!” and opened up in detail for the first time publicly about losing her husband, Jeff Baena. The indie filmmaker died by suicide in early January at 47 years old. The two married in 2021 after 10 years together. Baena directed Plaza in movies such as “Life After Beth” (2014) and “The Little Hours” (2017).
“To get it out of the way, people want to see you and see how you are,” Poehler told Plaza at the start of their podcast interview (via Entertainment Weekly). “They love you, and they want to see you. You had this terrible, terrible, tragic year. You lost your husband. You’ve been dealing with that, and you’ve been looking for all different ways in which to feel and find support. On behalf of all the people who feel like they know you, and the people who do know you, how are you feeling today?”
“Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m OK. It’s like a daily struggle, obviously,” Plaza answered before comparing her grief to the Apple TV+ movie “The Gorge,” starring Miles Teller and Anya-Taylor Joy. The alien monster movie debuted on the streamer in February.
“It’s an alien movie with Miles Teller. In the movie, there’s a cliff on one side and a cliff on the other side, and a gorge in between that’s filled with monster people trying to get them,” Plaza explained. “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 a giant ocean of awfulness that’s right there and I can see it. Sometimes I just want to dive into it and be in it, and sometimes I look at it. Sometimes I try to get away from it. It’s always there, and the monster people are trying to get me — like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.”
In the immediate aftermath of Baena’s death, Plaza and his family shared a joint statement in which they wrote: “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.” Plaza has largely been out of the spotlight this year in the aftermath of the tragedy, with “Honey Dont!” now marking her first major film release of the year.
Poehler and Plaza starred together on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” for all seven seasons. Later in the podcast interview, Poehler asked what makes Plaza laugh these days and noted the question “takes on more import” for Plaza, given her tragic year.
“I’d say there are certain people that make me laugh. I don’t laugh a lot when I watch things,” Plaza said. “That’s the best thing that makes me laugh, all my funny friends.”
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Watch Poehler and Plaza’s full conversation in the video below.
From Variety US