“a giant ocean of awfulness” - Actress Aubrey Plaza opens up about her grief since her husband’s death

Aubrey Plaza takes off the lid on her life after her husband, Jeff Baena, passed away earlier this year. The 47-year-old actor, writer, and director was found dead in his Los Angeles home in January, with the medical examiner's report stating that he died by suicide.

In the August 19 episode of Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, Plaza shared a life update and what grief feels like after Baena's passing. She likened her grief to the gorge filled with "monster people" in the Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy movie, The Gorge. She explained:

"It's like at all times there's like a giant ocean of, just, awfulness that's like right there and I can see it and sometimes I just want to dive into it and just be in it. And then sometimes I just look at it and then sometimes I'm like, I just try to get away from it, but it's always there."

She also said to the podcast host and her Parks and Recreation co-star that she's "functioning" and feels grateful to be "moving through the world." However, while Plaza said that she thinks she's doing okay, she also admitted that it's been a daily struggle since she lost her husband.

Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena started dating in 2011, and ten years later, in 2021, she announced that they were married. Besides being together in real life, the two also collaborated on several projects. She starred in the 2014 horror-comedy Life After Beth, which was written and directed by the later actor. They also worked together in Cinema Toast and Spin Me Round.

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Aubrey Plaza is starring in a new movie with Margaret Qualley

Besides sharing an update on her life after Jeff Baena's passing, Aubrey Plaza's appearance on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast was also to promote her latest project. The White Lotus star is starring in a dark comedy film about a small-town private investigator who gets to the bottom of the strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.

Aubrey Plaza and Margaret Qualley in Honey Don't! (Image via Focus Features)

Her new movie, Honey Don't, is releasing in movie theaters on Friday, August 22, 2025. It is a comedy, crime, and mystery thriller. Directed and co-written by Ethan Coen, Oscar-winning director of No Country for Old Men, with his wife, Tricia Cooke, the movie packs an impressive cast.

Alongside Plaza are Primetime Emmy nominee and Happy Gilmore 2 star Margaret Qualley and Avengers star Chris Evans. Qualley plays Honey O'Donahue, the beautiful but hard-boiled private investigator based in Bakersfield, while Aubrey Plaza is MG Falcone, Honey's emotionally distant love interest, who is also an officer at the local precinct.

Meanwhile, Evans slips in the story as the lecherous religious cult leader, Drew Devlin. Honey Don't also features a bevy of supporting cast members and characters, including Gabby Beans and Josh Pafcheck as Honey's assistant, Spider, and Drew's assistant, Shuggie, respectively.

Addtionally, Charlie Day plays as homicide detective Marty Metakawitch. Meanwhile, the mysterious Frenchwoman in a Vespa who could be the leader of a French mafia group, is portrayed by Lera Abova.

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Honey Don't is Aubrey Plaza's first acting project since her husband Jeff Baena's passing. She previously starred in Agatha All Along, Megalopolis, and My Old Ass in 2024. She can also be seen in Dirty Grandpa with Robert De Niro and Zac Efron, Emily The Criminal, and Parks and Recreation.