AUBREY Plaza has spoken out about the grief she is navigating after her husband Jeff Baena's death in her first interview since the sudden tragedy.
Filmmaker Jeff, who married Aubrey in 2021, died by suicide at the age of 47 in January of this year.
And now Aubrey has opened up to her pal Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast about his death.
Speaking to her Parks and Recreation co-star, Aubrey opened up.
Amy mentioned how Aubrey's dog Frankie was a "therapy dog" for her.
She added, "Just to get it out the way, people want to see you and want to see how you are, they love you."
Amy went on, "You've 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."
She then asked her longtime pal, "How are you feeling today?" Poehler asked.
Aubrey replied, "Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you."
She continued, "Overall, I'm here and I'm functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I'm okay, but it's like a daily struggle, obviously."
Aubrey continued to speak about dealing with the death of her husband when she said, "This is a really dumb analogy and it was kind of a joke at a certain point, but I actually mean it. Did you see that movie The Gorge?
"It's like [an] alien movie or something with Miles Teller.
"In the movie, there's like a cliff on one side and there's a cliff on the other side, then there's gorge in between and it's filled with all these like monster people that are trying to get them," she added.
"I swear when I watched it, I was like that feels like what my grief is like … or what grief could be like," Aubrey said.
She went on, "At all times there's like a giant ocean of awfulness, that's like right there and I can see it.
"Sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just like be in it.
"Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it.
"But, it's always there."
Though this was the first time that Aubrey spoke about the grief following Jeff's death, she did make her first public comment on the sudden tragedy soon after it happened at the start of the year.
At the time, a rep for the actress said: "This is an unimaginable tragedy.
"We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time."
Jeff and Aubrey – who starred in Parks and Recreation – wed after a decade together.
They kept both the engagement and marriage a secret before Plaza described Baena as her "darling husband" in a touching Instagram post in 2021.
Aubrey told how "proud" she was of him in the post – their final together.
Jeff was born and raised in Miami before he headed to New York to attend film school at university.
He then started his journey as a filmmaker in Los Angeles where he became a writer.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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