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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 automobile Life After Beth and I Coronary heart Huckabee, was simply 47 years previous. The outlet stories he was discovered by an assistant round 10:30 AM on Friday. A press release supplied to Deadline on Saturday stated that “the household is devastated and asks for privateness at this tough time.”
Baena and Plaza had one in every of Hollywood’s longest, and most non-public, long-term romances that ultimately culminated in a super-secret marriage ceremony. Amid the unhappy information, right here’s what to know concerning the relationship between The White Lotus actress and her husband.
When Did Aubrey Plaza & Jeff Baena Meet?

In keeping with PEOPLE, Jeff and Aubrey met means again in 2011, and little is thought 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?
In keeping with 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 difficult,” she informed host Drew Barrymore throughout a 2021 episode of her eponymous discuss present. “It’s, like, excessive highs and excessive, , issues. It’s a very onerous factor to navigate, however we’ve been collectively for 11 years. We simply muscle our means by way of it.”
She additionally spoke of their time collectively in the course of 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 taking place on the earth, simply on a private stage, relationship stage, was type of good to only 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 informed 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 Dwelling?
Baena was an achieved filmmaker, screenwriter, and director. Educated at New York College Tisch College 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 Lady adopted, and Spin Me Spherical can be his last movie in 2022.
What Occurred to Jeff Baena?
In keeping with 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. Regulation enforcement informed the outlet he died by suicide.
In case you or somebody is in emotional misery or contemplating suicide, name the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).