Christopher Abbott Breaks Silence on Having Baby With Pregnant Aubrey Plaza
Christopher Abbott is counting his blessings.
The Poor Things star spoke out for the first time on preparing to welcome a baby with Aubrey Plaza after she revealed her pregnancy in April.
During his May 18 appearance on Today, Jenna Bush Hager began congratulating him on the baby—but Christopher noted it’s not the only milestone he’s grateful for.Â
“I thought—for my Tony nom,” the Girls alum quipped. “I’m kidding, I know. There’s too much going on.”
In all seriousness, Christopher—who was nominated for a Tony Award this year for his performance in Death of a Salesman—added of the pregnancy, “That’s very nice, thank you very much. It’s very exciting.”Â
Aubrey, 41, and Chris, 40, went public with their relationship last month when her rep confirmed that they’re expecting. Though the relationship is new, following the death of her husband Jeff Baena in 2025, the pair have worked together in Hollywood for years, costarring in the 2020 film Black Bear and the off-Broadway revival of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea in 2023.Â
And now that they’re growing their family, Aubrey has expressed how curious she is to learn all the ins and outs of motherhood.
“I’ve always wanted to see what that’s all about,” she said on the April 20 episode of the SmartLess podcast. “It just seems so interesting, that whole thing.”Â
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After all, the Parks and Rec alum been able to witness just how much a mom can shape her child, citing her own mother Bernadette Plaza‘s career as a beauty queen as an influence on her career.
“I feel very much like there’s some kind of ancestral, generational thing going on, just in my DNA,” she told Vanity Fair in 2023. “There are a lot of people in my family that are just so creative. It makes me wanna cry. And I got lucky. I have the means to somehow do it. It feels like a weight, almost. Not a bad weight, but like it was meant to be or something.”
And now Aubrey feels like she’s able to carry the legacy of her family forward—both on her mom’s side and her dad David Plaza‘s side in Puerto Rico.
“I make so many of them so proud, and it feels personal, because they all had a hand in raising me,” she explained. “I grew up around a lot of people pulling me in different directions, but there was an overarching theme of family on both sides. Doesn’t matter who fucked up or what’s going on. So many crazy things were always happening, but we all have each other’s back at all times. And you know where you came from.”
For a closer look at her road to baby with Christopher, read on.
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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.Â
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.”
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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.”
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The Feeling is Mutual
For Christopher’s part, he couldn’t help but praise his costar. As the Girls star told the NYT of their dynamic, “We’re both unafraid to be ugly and weird and strange.”
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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.”
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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.Â
“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.”
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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.”
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Public Debut As a Couple
Aubrey and Christopher made their first public appearance as a couple two days after The To-Do List star’s pregnancy was confirmed, with them stepping out at an after-party for the Broadway opening of The Death of a Salesman, in which Christopher stars as Biff Loman.
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