{"id":161124,"date":"2025-08-20T12:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T12:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/161124\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T12:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T12:51:11","slug":"aubrey-plaza-likens-grief-over-husbands-death-to-ocean-of-awfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/161124\/","title":{"rendered":"Aubrey Plaza likens grief over husband’s death to ‘ocean of awfulness’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aubrey Plaza<\/a> has described her grief over husband Jeff Baena\u2019s death, likening it to \u201ca giant ocean of awfulness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor spoke on the podcast \u2018\u2019Good Hang with Amy Poehler,\u201d<\/a> telling her former \u201cParks and Recreation\u201d costar in her most detailed public remarks to date that it\u2019s been a daily struggle to overcome her grief. Writer-director Baena\u2019s January death at age 47<\/a> was ruled a suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, I\u2019m here and I\u2019m functioning,\u201d Plaza tells Poehler at the outset of their interview after being asked how she is coping. \u201cI feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I\u2019m OK. But it\u2019s like a daily struggle, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE \u2014 This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

She likens her grief to an image from an Apple TV+ horror movie starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you see that movie \u2018The Gorge?\u2019\u201d Plaza asks Poehler. \u201cIn the movie, there\u2019s a cliff on one side and then there\u2019s a cliff on the other side, and there\u2019s a gorge in between, and its filled with all these monster people trying to get them,\u201d Plaza says. \u201cAnd I swear when I watched it I was like, \u2018That feels like what my grief is like,\u2019 or what grief could be like \u2026 where it\u2019s like at all times, there\u2019s a giant ocean of awfulness that\u2019s right there and I can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Plaza adds: \u201cAnd sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just be in it, and sometimes I just look at it. And then sometimes I try to get away from it. But it\u2019s just always there, and the monster people are trying to get me, like Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baena was a writer and director who frequently collaborated with Plaza. He cowrote David O. Russell\u2019s 2004 film \u201cI Heart Huckabees\u201d and wrote and directed five of his own films. Plaza starred in his 2014 directorial debut, the zombie comedy \u201cLife After Beth.\u201d<\/p>\n

After largely remaining silent since Baena\u2019s death, Plaza is now promoting her new film, \u201cHoney Don\u2019t!\u201d<\/a> The dark comedy from director Ethan Coen has Margaret Qualley as a private investigator looking into nefarious goings-on in Bakersfield, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aubrey Plaza has described her grief over husband Jeff Baena\u2019s death, likening it to \u201ca giant ocean of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":161125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1014,93412,76527,1144,93413,171,93414,57,92112,56007,45567,53,5158,93415,1197,399,21951,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-161124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-amy-poehler","9":"tag-anya-taylor-joy","10":"tag-aubrey-plaza","11":"tag-comedy","12":"tag-david-o-russell","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ethan-coen","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-jeff-baena","17":"tag-margaret-qualley","18":"tag-miles-teller","19":"tag-movies","20":"tag-podcasts","21":"tag-sarah-margaret-qualley","22":"tag-suicide","23":"tag-television","24":"tag-trending-news","25":"tag-u-s-news","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115061187207447863","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}