Aubrey Plaza’s husband, filmmaker Jeff Baena, passed away on January 3, 2025, at the age of 47. The couple, who had shared a decade-long relationship, had kept their marriage private until his untimely passing.
Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza first met in 2011 when she auditioned for his film Life After Beth. Their professional connection quickly evolved into a personal relationship, and they began dating. Over the years, the duo worked together on several projects, including Joshy (2016) and Horse Girl (2020).
In December 2021, after being together for a decade, Jeff Baena proposed to Aubrey Plaza. The couple decided to keep their engagement and marriage private, celebrating with a low-key ceremony. In May 2021, Plaza subtly revealed their marriage by referring to Baena as her “husband” in an Instagram post about their project Spin Me Round.
Aubrey wrote, “So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to Italia to cause some more trouble.” Throughout their relationship, Baena and Plaza kept a low profile, rarely speaking about their personal lives in the media. The couple did not have children together.
On Friday at around 10:30 a.m., Los Angeles police and fire departments received a call from Baena’s assistant. According to law enforcement sources cited by TMZ, the filmmaker was pronounced dead when authorities arrived at his Los Angeles home.
The family shared with Deadline that they are devastated by the heartbreaking news and have requested privacy during this difficult time. Jeff Baena is best known for his films Life After Beth and The Little Hours, as well as other works like Joshy (2016), Horse Girl (2020), and Spin Me Round (2022).
Born and raised in Miami, Baena later moved to New York to attend film school before beginning his filmmaking career in Los Angeles. His directorial debut, Life After Beth, was a project he collaborated on with his wife, Aubrey Plaza.
Reflecting on writing and directing the film, Baena told Seensome in 2014, “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.”
