Days after her husband, Jeff Baena, died by apparent suicide, Aubrey Plaza broke her silence.
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In a statement, Plaza, as well as the Baena and Stern families, spoke out about Baena’s sudden death.
“This is an unimaginable tragedy,” the statement reads, per Variety. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”
According to TMZ, Baena was discovered unresponsive at a Los Angeles residence at around 10:30 a.m. local time on Friday, Jan. 3. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office determined Baema’s cause of death was suicide by hanging. He was 47 years old.
Baema and Plaza worked together on Life After Beth and other projects. They started dating in 2011 and were married in 2021.
Along with Plaza and Baena’s family, other celebrities took to social media to pay tribute to the late filmmaker.
“Rest in peace, my friend,” actress Molly Shannon, who appeared in many of the films that Baena directed, wrote. She also shared photos of her and the Baena.
“My heart breaks for my friend Aubrey and the Baena family,” Adam Pally wrote. “And for all of us who spent time on his sets or at his house or in his orbit.”
Baena is survived by Plaza, his mother, Barbara Stern, and stepfather, Roger Stern; his father, Scott Baena; his stepmother, Michele Baena; his brother, Brad Baena; and his stepsiblings, Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.
Aubrey Plaza Once Opened Up About Her and Jeff Baena’s Impromptu Wedding
During a 2021 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Aubrey Plaza opened up about her and Jeff Baena’s impromptu wedding.
“I just said, ‘Hey, it’s our 10-year anniversary. We should do something,” she said at the time. “Get an ice cream cone, you know, do something special. And then I joked about getting married, and he’s like, ‘Well, we probably couldn’t get married that fast.’”
“I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to get married on our actual anniversary?’” she continued. “And then I Googled it, and I found OneHourMarriage.com, and then I called around 5 p.m., and I said, ‘Can you come in an hour and marry me in our yard?'”
In a 2019 interview with People, Plaza said she and Baena understood each other better because they worked in the same industry.
“I think that one of the great things about our careers is that we are forced to be independent,” she explained. “Take little breaks, go off and do our things and come back. So it’s kind of fun. Nothing is ever the same. You don’t want to spend too much time apart. But I think that there’s a way that it can work and there’s a balance in that.