Aubrey Plaza Opens Up to Amy Poehler About Grief, Healing, and Life After Loss
Aubrey Plaza Opens Up to Amy Poehler About Life After Loss
When Aubrey Plaza sat down with her longtime friend Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast, the conversation quickly turned tender, honest, and deeply human. It was the first time Plaza really opened up about the heartbreaking loss of her husband, filmmaker Jeff Baena, who died earlier this year.
Plaza didn’t sugarcoat how she’s doing. When Poehler gently asked, she answered in the kind of way you’d expect from a friend who’s just trying to make it through the day:
“Right in this very present moment, I feel happy to be with you. Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I think I’m okay. But… it’s a daily struggle.”
That line—a daily struggle—probably hits home for anyone who’s walked through grief. There’s no clean arc, no “moving on.” It’s learning to live in the middle of it.
A Gorge, A Monster, A Metaphor
In true Aubrey Plaza fashion, she explained her grief with a metaphor straight out of a horror movie. She compared it to a gorge filled with monsters—sometimes she feels like she’s falling in, sometimes she wants to run, sometimes she’s just teetering on the edge. But it’s always there.
It’s raw, vivid, and painfully relatable. Grief doesn’t sit quietly in the corner—it follows you everywhere.
Finding Comfort in Small Things
Through it all, Plaza says her dog Frankie has become like a therapy partner, a little creature anchoring her when the waves hit too hard. And she’s leaned on her friends and family, who have surrounded her with love while also giving her space.
She and Baena’s family have called his passing an “unimaginable tragedy,” and in her words on the podcast, you can feel both the weight of that and the gratitude she carries for those helping her through it.
Why This Matters
This wasn’t just a celebrity opening up on a podcast—it was a reminder that grief is messy, relentless, and different for everyone. Aubrey Plaza’s honesty gave language to what so many people feel but struggle to explain.
And maybe that’s the gift of hearing her speak: we’re reminded that even in heartbreak, we’re not as alone as we think.
