Jeff Baena, the longtime love of Ingrid Goes West actress Aubrey Plaza, tragically died on Saturday, January 3, 2025. TMZ was the primary to report the information a day later, on January 4. The filmmaker, whose credit embrace Plaza car Life After Beth and I Coronary heart Huckabee, was simply 47 years previous. The outlet reviews he was discovered by an assistant round 10:30 AM on Friday. An announcement offered to Deadline on Saturday mentioned that “the household is devastated and asks for privateness at this tough time.” On January 6, Plaza launched a press release to PEOPLE, calling her late husbands demise an “unimaginable tragedy.”
Baena and Plaza had one among Hollywood’s longest, and most personal, long-term romances that ultimately culminated in a super-secret wedding ceremony. Aubrey honored her late husband throughout an look on Saturday Night time Stay’s fiftieth anniversary by sporting a tie-dye shirt, which held particular significance of their relationship. She shared in a December 2021 interview on The Drew Barrymore Present that they broke custom by sporting tie-dye pajamas—made by Jeff—for his or her wedding ceremony. Amid the unhappy information, right here’s what to know in regards to the relationship between The White Lotus actress and her husband.
When Did Aubrey Plaza & Jeff Baena Meet?
Based on PEOPLE, Jeff and Aubrey met approach again in 2011, and little is understood about their early relationship. A GQ profile of Plaza in 2022 reveals the candy particulars — they met over a recreation of Balderdash. In 2021, they appeared for the final time collectively on social media, however the Instagram caption revealed how proud she was of her achieved husband. “So pleased with my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up one other movie that take us to Italia to trigger some extra bother,” she wrote on the time.
How Lengthy Have been Aubrey Plaza & Jeff Baena Married?
Based on GQ, the 2 tied the knot in a “quickie ceremony” in 2020, so the duo had been married nearly 5 years and had been collectively for 13 years. Her rep confirmed to PEOPLE after her Might 2021 social media put up referring to him as her “husband,” that she and Baena had married. “It’s so nice, it’s so sophisticated,” she instructed host Drew Barrymore throughout a 2021 episode of her eponymous discuss present. “It’s, like, excessive highs and excessive, , issues. It’s a very exhausting factor to navigate, however we’ve been collectively for 11 years. We simply muscle our approach by way of it.”
She additionally spoke of their time collectively throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, remembering it with heat. “We had been quarantined for months and months like everyone else,” she recalled to PEOPLE, additionally in 2021. “And we did take pleasure in it. I feel it was, clearly aside from all the catastrophic issues occurring on this planet, simply on a private stage, relationship stage, was sort of good to simply be pressured to be in a single place for that lengthy.”
In her dialogue with GQ, she mirrored on the “peaks and valleys” of a longtime romance. “I’ve been with my husband for 12 years,” she instructed the outlet. “I relate to being in a relationship that has peaks and valleys, and going by way of a tough patch and evaluating your self to a different couple that appears excellent.”
What Did Jeff Baena Do For a Residing?
Baena was an achieved filmmaker, screenwriter, and director. Educated at New York College Tisch Faculty of the Arts, he later relocated to Los Angeles to launch his profession. He labored alongside Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell, finally collaborating with Russell on I Coronary heart Huckabees and Meet the Fockers in 2004. His filmmaking debut got here a decade later with Life After Beth, which starred Plaza. The Little Hours and Horse Woman adopted, and Spin Me Spherical could be his last movie in 2022.
What Occurred to Jeff Baena?
Based on TMZ, Jeff Baena was discovered after police and fireplace responded to a name from an assistant round 10:30 AM. The assistant had reportedly discovered him useless earlier than police and fireplace arrived to conduct a demise investigation. Legislation enforcement instructed the outlet he died by suicide.
When you or somebody is in emotional misery or contemplating suicide, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).