What to Know About Aubrey Plaza's Late Husband, Jeff Baena
NEED TO KNOW
Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena secretly wed in 2021
They separated in September 2024
Baena died by suicide at age 47 in January 2025
Aubrey Plaza was married to her husband, Jeff Baena, for nearly four years before he died by suicide on Jan. 3, 2025.
Eight months after his death, the actress opened up about the loss for the first time, describing her grief as a "giant ocean of awfulness."
"Sometimes I just want to dive into it and just be in it. Then sometimes I just look at it, and sometimes I try to get away from it. But, it's always there," the Parks and Recreation alum told Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast in August 2025.
Plaza and Baena started dating in 2011 and secretly tied the knot in 2021. However, according to the medical examiner's report, they were separated at the time of his death.
In addition to being spouses, the pair collaborated on many work projects together, including the 2022 film Spin Me Round, which was written and directed by Baena and starred Plaza. The actress credited much of her success to her husband's support.
"I think that when you're with someone that is in your field, they understand what you're dealing with on a deeper level. So obviously you are able to support each other and really understand kind of the journey that we're both on," Plaza told PEOPLE in 2019.
She went on to say that while "working with your partner can always be challenging," it's "all about balance."
Here is everything to know about the late Jeff Baena and his relationship with Aubrey Plaza.
He was a writer and director
Baena was a writer and director with more than a dozen credits to his name. Most notably, Baena co-wrote the 2004 film I Heart Huckabees starring Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law and Naomi Watts. Shortly after, he made his directorial debut, writing and directing Life After Beth, a zombie comedy starring Plaza.
Of the experience, Baena told Seensome during a 2014 interview, "It's all I ever want to do; it felt really comfortable and fun. I've been a writer for twelve years now and it was always a means to an end, I never wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be a director so this was always my intention and it felt right."
Baena also created an anthology series titled Cinema Toast, which aired on Showtime in 2021 and marked Plaza's directorial debut. His final project, Spin Me Round, a comedy film starring Plaza, Alison Brie, Debby Ryan and Molly Shannon, was released in 2022.
He studied film at New York University
Baena was born and raised in Miami, where he was exposed to cinema and culture at a young age, as he told Fast Company during a 2016 interview. He attended film school at New York University and moved to Los Angeles shortly after graduating to begin his career in entertainment.
Once in L.A., Baena moved into an apartment and started applying for assistant roles. He worked for film directors Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell before branching out on his own.
A minor car accident helped shape his career
It took some time for Baena to find his own footing in the competitive world of film. However, during his time working for Russell, Baena was involved in a minor car accident. Though he wasn't seriously injured, debris from the accident got in his eye and he sought medical attention.
As the two directors explained to Fast Company, Russell helped take care of Baena on the day of the accident and the two got to talking. From their conversations, they formed a collaboration that would take Baena from an assistant to a screenwriter. Russell and Baena then wrote a few scripts together, one of which was I Heart Huckabees.
In his interview with Seensome, Baena noted that Russell had a "tremendous influence" on his career.
He married Plaza in 2021
In 2011, Baena met and started dating Plaza. The couple managed to keep their romance out of the public eye and the world only learned that the two had tied the knot in May 2021, when Plaza referred to Baena as her "darling husband" in an Instagram post.
"So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to italia to cause some more trouble," her caption read. A rep later confirmed to PEOPLE that the couple had gotten married.
He and Plaza collaborated numerous times
Baena and Plaza worked together on several projects, including Life After Beth (2014), Joshy (2016), The Little Hours (2017) and Spin Me Round (2022).
"I'd say it's an amazing experience to work with your partner in this way. I've worked with Jeff since his first movie. I've seen him evolve and I've seen him grow. It's a really special dynamic that we have. It's challenging at times but it's also really rewarding to do something together like this," Plaza told MovieFreak.com in 2017.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Plaza revealed that she and Baena created their 2021 TV series Cinema Toast during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Our house became this strange post-production facility and he's downstairs on his Zooms or on his sessions and I'm upstairs editing, we're just going back and forth," Plaza explained. "Yeah, it was very us. We were not baking sourdough bread, but we were sifting through hours of old movies and footage and re-cutting them together and just letting our minds go on a trip. So it was great."
They kept their relationship private
Plaza and Baena did their best to keep their personal lives off the internet and out of the public eye.
Although Plaza is active on Instagram, she hardly ever shared photos of her husband. On Valentine's Day 2020, however, the actress gave fans a rare glimpse into their romance. Alongside a photo of herself holding a dagger up to Baena's chin while peering up at him, Plaza wrote simply, "and happy valentine's day."
In November 2022, Plaza mentioned Baena briefly during her interview with GQ.
"I've been with my husband for 12 years. I relate to being in a relationship that has peaks and valleys, and going through a rough patch and comparing yourself to another couple that seems perfect," the actress said when listing all the things that she and her White Lotus character, Harper, had in common.
He died in January 2025
Baena died by suicide on Jan. 3, 2025, PEOPLE confirmed. He was 47.
'This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time," Plaza said in a statement to PEOPLE three days after her husband's death.
TMZ was the first to report the news. Law enforcement sources told the outlet that an assistant discovered Baena's body at a Los Angeles-area home around 10:30 a.m. PT, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
In February 2025, Plaza honored her late husband at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special show by wearing a tie-dye shirt — similar to the tie-dye pajamas she and Baena wore on their wedding day.
It wasn't until August 2025 that Plaza spoke publicly about Baena's sudden death on Poehler's podcast, Good Hang.
"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, obviously," she said, responding to the host's question about how she was coping with the tragedy.
He and Plaza separated in September 2024
The medical examiner's report, which was released in March 2025, revealed that Baena and Plaza had been "experiencing marital difficulties" before the director's death. The pair had officially separated in September 2024.
The report also mentioned that Baena made "concerning remarks" to Plaza in October 2024 that "prompted her to call a friend to perform a welfare check on her husband." Plaza's last communication with Baena was on the day of his death at 10:36 a.m. ET.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
Read the original article on People
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Elvira Meets 'Happy Days' Star in Fun Crossover and Fans Are All Saying The Same Thing
Fans were thrown for a loop when they saw Cassandra Peterson, most well-known for playing the title character in the TV series Elvira's Movie Macabre and film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, smiling brightly while standing beside none other than Happy Days star Henry Winkler in her latest update. The actress shared the special photo with fans on Instagram on Aug. 18, writing in the caption, "Me and @hwinkler4real yesterday at @midsummerscream #elvira #elviramistressofthedark #cassandrapeterson #henrywinkler." In the photo, Peterson, wearing a black dress with feathers on the cuffs and matching nails, stood with her arm around Winkler, who flashed a grin while wearing a bold plaid button-up shirt. Both Winkler and Peterson were guests at the Midsummer Scream convention held in Long Beach, Calif., Aug. 15 to 17. While Peterson was there for her role as Elvira, Winkler was credited on the official website as a guest for his role as Principal Arthur Himbry in 1996's Scream. What Fans Are Saying Fans immediately praised the two stars, with people rushing to the comments to hype them up. "Two absolute icons! 👏👏👏," said one such fan, while similar comments read, "Two of my heroes! 😀❤️," "That's awesome! Two legends!" and, "My 2 favorites !!! Loooove you both !!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️." Another fan called the moment "epic," as someone else declared, "That is the most wholesome picture ever!! Love you both!!" "Nothing cooler than The Fonz and Elvira together," said a different fan. One even proclaimed the meeting between Peterson and Winkler to be the "Crossover of my dreams!" The comments continued with similar replies from others, making it clear that Peterson and Winkler are fan-favorite stars for a lot of people. Peterson and Winkler Are Hollywood Veterans While Peterson is most well-known for playing Elvira, she has also acted in other projects like Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and, more recently, she's been doing voice work for animated shows like DOTA: Dragon's Blood. As for Winkler, most people know him as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli from Happy Days, but he has an impressive resume of past work, including The Waterboy, Click, Parks and Recreation, Childrens Hospital, and Barry, for which he won an Emmy Award, and plenty of voice work.
Chicago Tribune
3 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Artist Wafaa Bilal believes laughter is resistance. Look for his ‘Amreeka' comedy show at the MCA.
During Wafaa Bilal's childhood in Kufa, Iraq, his parents held one rule above all others: Do not, under any circumstances, talk about the regime. The young artist and his friends wondered if the walls had ears. So, they devised a workaround. They would gather at the middle of the intersection in their neighborhood, tell each other the latest joke about Saddam Hussein's government, then dash away. Bilal, 59, now thinks of those meetups as an 'underground comedy club.' 'We understood how to deal with oppression through laughter,' he said. 'That was a form of empowerment.' The traveling standup show 'Amreeka' is a grown-up version of that club. Curated by Bilal, the show features a rotating roster of comics opining about 'Amreeka' — a playful reference to how 'America' is pronounced by some in the Arabic-speaking diaspora and elsewhere. It started as a monthly series in New York, where Bilal lives and works as a professor at New York University. On Friday, it comes to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which is currently hosting 'Indulge Me,' Bilal's first major art retrospective. It's fitting that 'Indulge Me' and 'Amreeka' will both roost here, in the city that most shaped his practice. Bilal arrived in the U.S. in 1992, after two years of living in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia. A month after he arrived in Chicago in 2001 to pursue an MFA at the School of the Art Institute, the 9/11 attacks stunned the world. In Bilal's recollection, the school went from an 'apolitical conceptual art school' to 'political' almost overnight. 'Then it dawned on me,' he said, 'that I was at the epicenter of this political storm.' Bilal describes his art from those early years as 'antagonizing.' His 2001 video installation titled 'Al Qaeda R Us' confronted viewers with images of American military valor juxtaposed against the bloody human toll of those campaigns. 'The very people who contributed to the demise of my homeland were so oblivious to what happened,' he said. 'So, automatically, the work was pointing fingers at them, implicating them in the destruction of my life.' He credits his time at SAIC as redirecting him from didactic art toward an ethos of radical, even provocative, interactivity. He went on to become an adjunct professor there before getting hired by NYU in 2008. Bilal's change in approach was also shaped by a personal tragedy. His brother Haji was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2004; their father, heartbroken, died shortly thereafter. Those losses — as well as a TV interview with an operator of an American drone, like the one that likely killed Haji — inspired Bilal to stage his most famous work, 'Domestic Tension' in 2007. For a month, Bilal lived in a makeshift room in the former FlatFile Gallery in the West Loop, while remote strangers could choose to shoot him — or not — with a web-operated paintball gun. He streamed the carnage in real-time, 24/7, via live cam. Bilal wanted to name the project 'Shoot an Iraqi.' The gallery talked him out of it. Since then, Bilal has pursued other daredevil experiments that push political satire to grim extremes. Between 2010 and 2011, Bilal surgically implanted a livestream camera in the back of his head as commentary on state surveillance; he had to end the project after a year when the scalp area became infected. Another project — a hacked video game he called 'Virtual Jihadi,' which visitors can play for themselves in 'Indulge Me' — was shut down almost immediately upon its display at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute outside Albany, New York, in 2008. A forthcoming MCA commission pokes fun at a rumored plan by Iraqi Baathists to launch a massive bust of Saddam Hussein into Earth's orbit. Bilal plans to do the same and document its path via video feed. Of course, there's a catch: While the spacebound Hussein will appear larger than life on the video feed, the actual bust will be just an inch. Ultimately, it will burn up in Earth's atmosphere, symbolizing the futility and hubris of the original project. Curating a standup show may seem like an unusual side project for an artist. But for an artist with Bilal's pitch-black sense of humor, it's almost intuitive. After moving to New York, Bilal frequented Greenwich Village's most iconic standup venues. He counts Jon Stewart — 'The Daily Show' host who became an early critic of the Iraq War — as a personal favorite, along with Jerry Seinfeld, 'regardless of what his politics are,' he said. The first 'Amreeka,' in 2016, was accidentally timed mere days after Donald Trump's first presidential win. Bilal considered canceling that show. Instead, it went forward, doubling as much as a group therapy session as a comedy show. 'The big fear was, how are we going to be targeted as Muslims, or as an Arab minority?' Bilal said. 'In order to do standup, you have to have a community, because standup relies on cultural reference.' That has been 'Amreeka's' guiding philosophy ever since. The MCA's 'Amreeka' session will be headlined by Suzie Afridi, a Christian Palestinian comic who often speaks about her relationship with her husband, an artist from a Muslim Pakistani family. Sharif Hasan, a Palestinian-American comic on the creative team of 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,' also will perform. But 'Amreeka' is not limited to comics with Arab roots. Also on the bill are Charles McBee and Shane Anthony, Black comics from the Midwest whose work pokes fun at American racial politics. 'It ended up being about all disfranchised people, from queer (people) to African-Americans to Middle Easterners,' Bilal said. '(We) have the same rules and rights as everyone else — and the right to complain. That's what America is.'
Business Insider
9 hours ago
- Business Insider
Julia Fox says she regrets getting cosmetic surgery but still worries about 'feeling old'
Julia Fox has some regrets about going under the knife. In an interview with Allure published on Tuesday, the actor said she got cosmetic surgery in the past to appeal to men. "Now, when I see someone and I can tell they've never done anything…I wish I could go back and be that person. I was so hung up on this idea that I needed to be attractive to men so that I could survive," Fox told Allure. The actor added it was "super important" for public figures to be transparent about the work they've gotten done, adding that she started getting filler and Botox when she was around 21. She says she "probably will" get more work done in the future, although she is "not as concerned with it right now." Even though she admires the beauty of women who can age naturally, Fox still fears growing older. "That's what I think I'm the most scared of, feeling old, and there are times where I feel old…Tired, over it, disillusioned," Fox said. "When you're young and hot, it's like that's your identity. Then you're like, shit, I need to stay young and hot." Now that she's 35, Fox says she is rethinking how she wants to age. "Am I going to chase the way I used to look, or am I going to evolve and see what's on the other side? It could be something totally different, and I'm choosing to go that way. I just want to see who's there waiting for me," Fox said. "It'll definitely be uncomfortable, but I think I'm ready for it." Fox has previously said in interviews that she's had a rhinoplasty, liposuction, and dental veneers. In June, she told People that she thought it was great that female celebrities were being open about their cosmetic surgeries. "Women set the bar for each other and I feel like if you're setting an unrealistic bar [if you're not honest]. That's really great for you, but what about all the girls that are so impressionable and feeling like 'Wait, why don't I look like that and what's wrong with me?'" Fox said. "It's like, girl, none of us look like this, you know what I mean?" A representative for Fox told Business Insider that the star had no additional comment. These days, plenty of stars are coming clean about the work they've had done. Kylie Jenner sent TikTok into a frenzy in June when she shared details of her breast augmentation, including the name of her surgeon. "445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle!!!!! silicone!!! garth fisher!!! hope this helps lol," Jenner wrote in a comment after a fan asked about her implants. Ricki Lake also said she had a lower face and neck lift after losing 40 pounds. "I'm fully transparent, always have been. I don't want there to be any stigma. This is something that was bothering me," Lake said. On the other hand, some stars have spoken up about aging naturally in the public eye. "White Lotus" star Carrie Coon said that she gets typecast as older in Hollywood because she hasn't gotten Botox. "Authenticity is more evocative than any kind of engineering you might consider doing to your face or your body," Coon said. "Now, this is not the message coming from culture. As a woman who is 44, watching myself in HD is not easy, and it's not comfortable." Likewise, Alicia Silverstone said she's never had Botox, fillers, or cosmetic surgery, and credits her diet for keeping her youthful. "As I age, I'm aware that I don't look like everybody else. But I don't lose sleep over it," Silverstone said.
