Aubrey Plaza's husband, director Jeff Baena, found dead by suicide

Jami Ganz, New York Daily News on Jan 4, 2025

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Aubrey Plaza’s husband, screenwriter and director Jeff Baena, was found dead Friday of suicide at the age of 47.

An assistant made the grisly discovery at a Los Angeles-area home, to which emergency services responded around 10:30 a.m. local time, law enforcement sources told TMZ.

Authorities pronounced Baena dead at the scene. A medical examiner later ruled his cause of death was a suicide, according to records reviewed by Us Weekly. No additional conditions were listed as contributing factors in his death. The manner in which he died was not revealed.

The New York University alum started out as an assistant to Oscar-winning “Forrest Gump” director Robert Zemeckis. He made his big break when he co-wrote 2004’s star-studded black comedy “I Heart Huckabees,” alongside David O. Russell.

Ten years later, Baena released his directorial debut, “Life After Beth,” which he wrote and in which Plaza starred. The future spouses reunited for 2016’s“Joshy,” which centers on a man reconciling with his fiancée’s suicide.

Plaza also starred in Baena’s 2017 film, “The Little Hours,” and appeared in his final feature film, 2022’s “Spin Me Round.”

Both movies, as well as 2020’s “Horse Girl,” starred “Community” alum Alison Brie, who co-wrote “Horse Girl” and “Spin Me Round.” The two also worked together on his experimental Showtime series “Cinema Toast.”

Plaza and Baena went public with their marriage in spring 2021, a decade after they were first linked.

“So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to Italia to cause some more trouble,” the Emmy-nominated “White Lotus” star captioned an Instagram post, referring to “Spin Me Round.”

It was considered the first public reference to the couple’s under-the-radar nuptials.