Inside Pregnant Aubrey Plaza's Private Romance With Christopher Abbott

Plaza and Abbott have known each other since at least 2019, when they made the indie film Black Bear, playing a married couple in the second half of the dual-character, WTF-is-happening psychological thriller.

Plaza called the movie "a real artistic labor of love" when it came out in 2021, telling the Los Angeles Times, “Without sharing too much from my personal life, I knew if I decided to do this movie, it was going to be really painful. I have worked over the years with a process of using the things that have happened in my real life, the struggles I’m going through...using it as a cathartic process."

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Plaza has always been private about her personal life, but when it comes to the confusion over where her characters end and she begins, she has credited her "defense mechanisms" coming into play for her oft-sardonic persona.

“Celebrity and fame and all that stuff is scary to me," she told Harper's Bazaar in 2021. "My reaction is to find the funny in it, even if I come out looking weird."

Consider when she told Howard Stern in September 2024, "I'm really good at manipulating my feelings, that's what I get paid to do." Asked if that was a peril of dating actors, not knowing how they really felt, she deadpanned, "Yeah, I would stay away."

Asked if she was married to a fellow actor, Plaza said, "No, I'm married to a writer-director." Asked if that was probably better for her, she replied, "Mmmhmm."

As it turned out, she and Baena had separated around this time. He died by suicide less than four months later, on Jan. 3, 2025, the medical examiner's report noting that Plaza had moved from Los Angeles to New York the previous September.

While Plaza inched back into the public eye for work, she mourned privately, telling Amy Poehler on an August episode of Good Hang, "I think I'm OK, but you know, it's like a daily struggle, obviously."

Plaza compared her grief to the horror movie The Gorge, in that "at all times there's like a giant ocean of, just, awfulness that's right there and I can see it And sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just like be in it. And then sometimes I just look at it."

Sometimes she tried to get away from it, she added, "but it's always there."

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Onscreen Romance

Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott's onscreen relationship dates back to 2019, when the pair starred as a married couple in the second act of the indie film Black Bear.

The Parks and Rec alum—who also produced the dual-storied psychological drama—described the project to The Los Angeles Times in 2021 as a "labor of love."

Part one of the movie follows filmmaker Allison (Aubrey) as she spends time at a lake house amid a bout of writer's block, where she attempts to manipulate her married hosts Blair (Sarah Gadon) and Gabe (Christopher) to help push past her creative stall. 

In the film's second part, "The Bear by the Boat House," Allison is an actress married to director Gabe, who tortures her for his own project.

"Without sharing too much from my personal life," she explained, "I knew if I decided to do this movie, it was going to be really painful. I have worked over the years with a process of using the things that have happened in my real life, the struggles I'm going through...using it as a cathartic process."

A Blossoming Friendship

A few years after costarring in Black Bear, the actors went on to share the stage in the 2023 Off-Broadway production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. Working with Christopher for the show's 11-week run was a ticket to paradise for Aubrey.

"He cares but he also doesn't care; it's the best recipe for me for a scene partner," she told The New York Times in September 2023. "It's fun and it's also good and it's also safe. I like to just throw things out the window also and laugh and mess around and not take it so seriously. It's a hard combo to come by."

The Feeling is Mutual

Destined to Collaborate

Aubrey revealed that in the early stages of Black Bear's production, she almost sent Christopher a letter urging him to join the movie. However, she ultimately decided against it—and luckily, he signed on anyway.

"In my opinion," she told Vulture in November 2023, "he's the best male actor in our country today."

A Private Life in the Public Eye

Aubrey—who had been in a relationship with husband Jeff Baena for 14 years until his death in January 2025—previously reflected on navigating life in the spotlight.

"Celebrity and fame and all that stuff is scary to me," she told Harper's Bazaar in 2021. "My reaction is to find the funny in it, even if I come out looking weird."

But it also meant that she would sometimes have to address certain aspects of her personal life, like her grief after Jeff—with whom she privately separated after more than three years of marriage—had died by suicide.

She compared her grief to the horror film The Gorge while chatting with Amy Poehler on her Good Hang podcast in August 2025, explaining that, "at all times there's like a giant ocean of, just, awfulness that's right there and I can see it, and sometimes I just want to dive into it, and just like be in it. 

"And then sometimes I just look at it," she continued. "And then sometimes, I'm just trying to get away from it. But it's always there. It's just always there."

Baby on Board

A rep for Aubrey confirmed on April 7, 2026, that the My Old Ass actress was expecting her first baby with Christopher. Soon after, she shared insight into her pregnancy journey.

"Well, there's a baby inside of me," she said on a SmartLess podcast episode released April 20, 2026. "Today was a big day. I went to the doctor's today."

And when it came to her thoughts on motherhood, she added, "I've always wanted to see what that's all about. It just seems so interesting, that whole thing."

Public Debut As a Couple

Tony Awards 2026