LGBTQ Ally and the community’s favorite actress, Aubrey Plaza, has stepped back into the public eye for the first time since losing her husband earlier this year. The beloved queer favorite joined longtime friend and fellow Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler on Poehler’s podcast Good Hang, where she spoke candidly about grief, healing, and what it feels like to move forward. Poehler opened the conversation with tenderness, telling Plaza, “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. On behalf of all the people who feel like they know you, and the people who do know you, how are you feeling today?”
Plaza paused before answering, “Right in this very, very present moment, I feel happy to be with you. 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.”
She went on to describe her grief in vivid terms, comparing it to the 2025 film The Gorge. She said that the imagery of cliffs and monsters in the movie resonated with her.
Plaza added that her grief feels 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.”
All over the world, queer people and allies are praising Poehler for starting the conversation with empathy and tenderness. Her new film Honey Don’t is hitting theaters on August 22.
