American actress, comedian, and producer Aubrey Plaza and her family are dealing with an unexpected loss. The popular personality had been with her husband, director Jeff Baena, for over a decade. On January 4, 2025, she deleted her official Instagram account after Jeff Baena was found dead at his home in Los Angeles on January 3. He was 47. The Instagram account that was previously active now doesn’t exist. When one searches for Aubrey’s account, Instagram now displays the message, “Sorry, this page isn’t available.”
According to medical examiner records reviewed by Us Weekly, Jeff’s official cause of death was suicide. While the reason for the tragic death remains unknown at the time of writing, no additional details about the deceased have been revealed yet. On January 6, Plaza and the Baena/Stern family released a statement on his death to several media outlets “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.” Before the family put out the official statement, Aubrey Plaza initially said, “The family is devastated and asks for privacy at this difficult time.”
Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena had a long love story spanning almost 10 years and kept their relationship away from the spotlight. As per ELLE, Plaza revealed they were married when she referred to him as “my husband” in an Instagram post in 2021. She told GQ in November 2022 that the two quietly wed in 2020 in an intimate ceremony.
The late director was born in Miami on June 29, 1977 and had been making films for more than 15 years. He co-wrote the 2004 film I Heart Huckabees, directed by David O. Russell and starring Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Isabelle Huppert, and more.
The couple also worked together on several projects, including the 2021 TV series Cinema Toast. Plaza later made her own directorial debut. She also spoke about how the duo spent time together during the COVID-19 pandemic in a 2021 interview with PEOPLE Magazine and said, “We were quarantined for months and months like everybody else. And we did enjoy it. I think it was, obviously other than all of the catastrophic things happening in the world, just on a personal level, relationship level, kind of nice to just be forced to be in one place for that long. Could have gone either way, I guess.”
Aubrey Plaza also spoke about how she was grateful that Jeff was someone from the entertainment industry and how that made their bond stronger as they both understood each other’s jobs on a deeper level. The couple shared no children together, but in a 2022 interview, she revealed that she always wanted them. We wish the grieving family healing, and Jeff Baena will always be remembered for the rich art and legacy he left behind in the world of cinema.