Aubrey Plaza cut an effortlessly stylish figure on Tuesday as she and her boyfriend Christopher Abbott watched the New York Knicks take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game One of the NBA conference finals in New York City.
The pregnant actress, 41, slipped into a loose-fitted black maxidress for the outing, while carrying a leather jacket over her arm that hid her blossoming baby bump from view as she arrived at Madison Square Garden.
Keeping comfy in a pair of simple ballet flats, she accessorised with a trio of gold necklaces and round dark shades and showed her support for her team by sporting a Knicks baseball cap.
Chris, 41, also made no secret of who he would be cheering on, arriving fully kitted out in a Knicks basketball jersey and coordinating cap in the team’s distinctive royal blue and orange, teamed with a denim jacket and long grey shorts.
And happily for the couple, the Knicks ended up taking the victory over the Cavaliers with the game ending 115-104.
Aubrey confirmed she was expecting her first child with Chris last month after the news was first reported by People, debuting her bump the following day while out in New York.
Aubrey Plaza cut an effortlessly stylish figure on Tuesday as she and her boyfriend Christopher Abbott watched the New York Knicks take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game One of the NBA conference finals in New York City
The pregnant actress, 41, slipped into a loose-fitted black maxidress for the outing, while carrying a leather jacket over her arm that hid her blossoming baby bump from view
Keeping comfy in a pair of simple ballet flats, she accessorised with a trio of gold necklaces and round dark shades and showed her support for her team by sporting a Knicks baseball cap
Her pregnancy came a little over a year after the tragic death of her estranged husband, Jeff Baena, in January 2025.
Aubrey and Chris were said to be feeling ‘very blessed’, with a source telling the publication: ‘It was a beautiful surprise after an emotional year.’
Prior to announcing their exciting baby news, the couple had kept their romance under wraps.
They first worked together in 2019 on the indie psychological drama Black Bear, followed by the Off-Broadway revival of Danny And The Deep Blue Sea, which ran from October 2023 to January 2024.
Aubrey opened up for the first time about her impending motherhood on the Smartless podcast last month, declaring: ‘There is a baby inside of me right now’.
She continued: ‘Today was a big day. I went to the doctor’s today and my dog also went to the doctor’s. My dog’s getting a scan right now. I got a scan earlier.
‘I’m not kidding. She had to get an ultrasound on her stomach and then I got an ultrasound on my stomach and there is a baby in there.’
Injecting her signature quirky humor, she quipped: ‘It already has a cloak and a little hat. I think it’s gonna come out.’
Asked if she was ‘excited’ about becoming a first-time mother, the Parks and Recreation star said she ‘always wanted to see what that’s all about. It just seems so interesting.’
It follows a very difficult 2025 for Aubrey, following the death of filmmaker Jeff by suicide, at the age of 47 on January 3.
It was subsequently revealed that the couple had quietly separated in September 2024, four months before his untimely death.
Chris, 41, also made no secret of who he would be cheering on, arriving fully kitted out in a Knicks basketball jersey and coordinating cap in the team’s distinctive royal blue and orange, teamed with a denim jacket and long grey shorts
And happily for the couple, the Knicks ended up taking the victory over the Cavaliers with the game ending 115-104
Aubrey confirmed she was expecting her first child with Chris last month after the news was first reported by People, debuting her bump the following day while out in New York
An LA County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report obtained by the Daily Mail detailed how the director had been ‘experiencing marital difficulties’ in his final months, and how he had been in therapy.
The report also tragically revealed that Aubrey had been concerned for her estranged husband’s well-being, and had spoken to Jeff the night before he died.
‘In October 2024, Baena made concerning remarks to [Plaza], which prompted her to call a friend to perform a welfare check on her husband. Baena had been attending therapy since that event,’ the documents stated.
The report stated that Aubrey ‘knew her husband to be alive’ as of January 3 because he had sent her a text message that morning and determined that Jeff did not have drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
In a statement to the Daily Mail at the time, a representative for the Legion star said: ‘This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.’
In August, she opened up on her grief in her first interview since Jeff’s passing, on her friend and former Parks and Rec co-star Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast.
Asked how she was doing, Aubrey replied: ‘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 OK, but it’s like a daily struggle.’
Describing the pain of her grief, she compared it to the 2025 sci-fi thriller, The Gorge, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Miles Teller and Sigourney Weaver.
‘This is a really dumb analogy, and it was kind of a joke at a certain point, but I actually mean it, she said. ‘Did you see that movie The Gorge?
‘In the movie, there’s like a cliff on one side, and there’s a cliff on the other side, then there’s a gorge in between, and it’s filled with all these, like, monster people that are trying to get them.’
Her pregnancy came a little over a year after the tragic death of her estranged husband, Jeff Baena, who took his own life aged 47 in January 2025 (pictured together in 2016)
She explained: ‘I swear when I watched it… I was, like, that feels like what my grief is like. Or what grief could be like. At all times there’s, like, a giant ocean of awfulness that’s 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.’
Jeff, who got his big break when he co-wrote David O. Russell’s 2004 cult comedy I Heart Huckabees, met Aubrey at a game night he hosted in 2011, and the two began dating shortly afterward.
She later starred in his directorial debut in 2014, zombie comedy Life After Beth, followed by 2016’s Joshy, 2017’s The Little Hours and dark comedy thriller Spin Me Round in 2022, which was co-written by Jeff and Alison Brie.
In 2018, Aubrey told Page Six that their mutual obsession with movies helped them bond and led to their subsequent creative and romantic partnership.
The couple quietly wed in 2020 wearing tie-dye pyjamas that Jeff had made during the COVID pandemic, with her later describing their low-key nuptials as ‘very witch-core’.
Following his death, she made her first public appearance with a brief introduction spot on Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special in February 2025, making a subtle but moving tribute to her late husband by wearing a tie-dye shirt.
Read the full article here
