Aubrey Plaza has reflected on life advice from her grandmother months after the death of her husband, Jeff Baena.

The Parks and Recreation alum, 41, appeared on Wednesday’s episode of the Today show to promote her newest children’s novel, titled Luna and the Witch Throw a Halloween Party. During her appearance, Plaza told co-host Savannah Guthrie that the book is “an homage” to her grandmother.

“Shoutout to my grandma, Margie,” she said. “She taught me from a very young age that life is a party and no matter what happens, we have to have fun and move forward, and so I think this book was inspired by that.”

“I think on both sides of my family, I have a lot of witchy women that raised me, so this is an homage to all the women in my life,” Plaza added.

The actor did not specifically say whether she related the advice to her husband’s January death by suicide at the age of 47, though she has spoken previously about navigating grief.

Baena and Plaza began dating in 2011 and married 10 years later. The director-screenwriter and actor often collaborated, including on the Netflix movie Horse Girl (2020) and Spin Me Round (2022).

A joint statement from Plaza and the Baena / Stern family hared with The Independent at the time of his death said: “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”

During an August appearance on her former co-star, Amy Poehler’s, Good Hang podcast, Plaza opened up about her “daily struggle” since Baena’s death, likening her grief to “a giant ocean of awfulness” depicted in the 2025 film The Gorge.

“Right in this very present moment, I feel happy to be with you,” Plaza said at the time. “Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning and really grateful to be moving through the world. I’m OK but you know, it’s like a daily struggle, obviously.”

Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza began dating in 2011 and were married ten years later (Getty)

Plaza then compared her grief to the plot of The Gorge, a 2025 science-fiction horror film following two elite snipers who are ordered to guard a deep gorge without knowing what lies inside. She said that when she watched the Apple TV+ film in February, she thought: “That’s what my grief is like.”

“There’s like a giant ocean of awfulness that’s right there, and I see it and at some point, I just want to dive into it and be in it,” she said.

“Sometimes I look at it. Sometimes I wanna get away from it. But it’s just always there, and the monster people are trying to get me.”

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.