The Tragic Truth About Aubrey Plaza's Life

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"Parks and Recreation" star Aubrey Plaza is synonymous with dark humor; however, tragedy and hardship have weaved themselves into Plaza's life and career.

For example, Plaza struggled while shooting "Black Bear," a psychological thriller where she plays an actor whose director husband subjects her to unorthodox mental games for the benefit of their onscreen work. As a real-life star playing a troubled actor, the role "took a toll" on her. "I knew that if I decided to do this, that I was really gonna dive off the deep end," shared Plaza about her shooting process with The Independent. She continued, "I knew there were things about this process that were going to be chaotic and hard and that there was going to be a certain amount of suffering involved. And I was totally right. It was probably worse than I thought." In the end, "Black Bear" made Plaza feel "depleted."

"Black Bear" isn't the only film that required Plaza to sacrifice a part of herself for the end goal, and it probably won't be the last. When promoting "Ingrid Goes West" and "The Little Hours" during an interview with Salon, Plaza opened about the kinds of fictional characters that speak to her soul. "I gravitate to dynamic characters that have many layers, a lot of things going on in their lives," she revealed in 2017. "They often end up being more comic or villainous roles, so I'm interested in playing complicated characters." Plaza's life has been full of its own complications and, unfortunately, tragedy.

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Aubrey Plaza is multi-racial, with Puerto Rican and Irish ancestry. Well, to get specific, Plaza, who utilized 23 and Me's services in 2023, is "30% or 31% Irish" and "34% Iberian, which is Spanish," per Wired. She's also "10% West African ... 7% Native American ... and 0.6% Ashkenazi Jewish." Over the years, Plaza has expressed pride in her multi-ethnic background, but because of it, she didn't always receive support early in life — especially in school. "I was winning the diversity awards and people were always calling bulls*** on me," Plaza shared with Latina Magazine in 2014. "I won the Hispanic teenager of the year and I felt terrible. I always felt like I didn't deserve to win because I was really half [Latino]," she continued. 

Plaza has also faced identity struggles within her career — but not exactly the kind fans might assume. "I have a different kind of experience than a lot of other Latinx actors because a lot of people don't even know that I'm half Puerto Rican," she told Time in 2024. "It's something that I always like to remind people of and bring to the table." This lack of recognition has only made her work harder at representing her Latinx roots while working. "My journey has been a lot about infusing my heritage into these stories and characters in ways that people might not think to do because people have kind of put Latina characters in such a box," she said.

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Aubrey Plaza may regularly trend on social media, but she doesn't really enjoy that side of fame. While speaking with The New Yorker, Plaza revealed her feelings about the online world while talking about the popularity and viral nature of her show "The White Lotus." She said, "I mean, I wasn't, like, scouring. But my phone has never been more active. People were texting me all the time, and so I was aware of it." She continued, "But, generally, I try to stay away from the Internet, because it usually just makes me feel bad."

During a since-archived interview with The A.V. Club, the beloved actor expounded on her dislike of social media. "I don't have an Instagram obsession like a person that I'm obsessing about, but I do relate to the idea of getting kind of wrapped up in looking at other people's stuff and feeling bad about yourself," she admitted (via Well + Good). Continuing, she added, "I have a very complicated relationship with the social media. I don't really like to do it, but sometimes, you know, it's kind of fun, and it's a way to connect with people." Unfortunately, social media has caused the star to struggle with feelings of self-hate, and she admitted that she doesn't "really know how to handle it."

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Aubrey Plaza has been open about her family's history with mental health issues as well as her own. One of her public struggles is with social anxiety. "I'm way more socially, like, anxious and introverted than people would expect, I think," she shared during a wide-reaching interview with Vanity Fair in 2023. She also navigates the same insecurities as the next person. "I'm just as insecure as anybody, and I'm probably way more shy than people think. But obviously the way I deal with that is, like, extreme behaviors," she continued. "I try to maintain some authenticity, for better or for worse."

Plaza also opened up about her mental health during a 2018 interview with Relevant Magazine. "I struggle just as much as the next person with anxiety and depression," shared the actor. "And I have a really hard time relaxing." Continuing, she touched on some of her work woes by saying, "I think there's kind of a lot of negativity, and a lot of kind of bulls*** that goes on out here." Unfortunately, that's par for the course in Hollywood. According to Plaza, "Movie sets especially can get really hectic and really toxic really fast." 

Earlier in the interview, she admitted to hating the promotional aspects of her job. "I'm so grateful that anyone wants me to talk about what I'm doing, so I have a positive attitude about it," she revealed, adding, "But I did have a period of time where I had to kind of get over my negativity. I mean, it's so cool that anyone cares, and that anyone wants to hear about what's happening. So, I try to just focus on that but I hate it."

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At the age of 20 while in college, Aubrey Plaza had a stroke. While she's spoken openly about the health ordeal several times over the years, she laid it all bare in a 2017 NPR interview. During her recounting of events, Plaza revealed that she had the stroke while out with friends. "It's really kind of a very typical I think stroke story where it just happened mid-sentence out of nowhere," she said. "And then I remember there was just like a really loud kind of sound happening. And I brought my hands to my throat, and I was kind of making like an ah (ph) sound because I couldn't talk because the blood clot was in my language center of my brain." Plaza was whisked to the hospital, spent two days in the stroke unit, then a few more days at a local hospital.

However, the moments leading up to her diagnosis were terrifying. While appearing on "The Howard Stern Show" in 2024, Plaza opened up about the symptoms she experienced. "It was wild. The craziest thing about it was ... in mid-sentence, it just happened, and that's when I was paralyzed, but really only for a minute or something," she recalled. "I lost my motor skills really briefly, but then the freakiest thing is that I forgot how to talk. But the thing that you realize when you have a stroke ... is that you start to understand that your brain is not you." She then explained that, because of her stroke, she was unable to respond to the doctor's questions aloud, even though she was fully cognizant of the conversation internally. "It was terrifying. I thought I'd never speak again, but it was also kind of like, 'Oh, wait a minute. There's more going on here.' Because I'm watching my brain malfunction."

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Aubrey Plaza lost her loving husband, Jeff Baena, at the start of 2025. The creative, who'd carved out a successful career as a writer and director, died by suicide, per People. While Baena's cause of death has been confirmed, the events that led to his untimely demise have not yet been reported as of write time. 

Unfortunately, Plaza, who had been married to Baena since 2021, lost a spouse and also a creative partner, as they'd previously worked together on several projects, including "The Little Hours." While promoting the film, Plaza revealed how deeply intertwined their careers had become. "I've been involved in all of Jeff's movies and I do a lot of things behind the scenes," she told The Stranger of her role as the film's producer.

So far, Plaza has yet to make a formal statement about losing her husband of three years and partner for more than a decade. However, she and Baena's family released a blanket statement to People thanking fans for the outpouring of support they'd received, while also asking for privacy. "This is an unimaginable tragedy," read the statement. "We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time." Plaza was also absent from The Golden Globes, which took place on January 5, 2025. Prior to Baena's death, the "Monsters at Work" star, who wasn't up for any award this go-around, had been scheduled to present one of the show's many awards. At this time, it's unknown whether the remainder of her schedule for the year will be impacted.