The filmmaker was found at the property he shared with Plaza on Friday
Aubrey Plaza has said the death of her husband is an “unimaginable tragedy” in her first statement since his passing.
Over the weekend, the news broke that filmmaker Jeff Baena, 47, had been found dead at his LA home. The LA County Medical Examiner Office later confirmed that the Life After Beth director had died by suicide at the Los Feliz property he shared with Plaza.
In a joint statement shared with the Independent, Plaza and the Baena/Stern family said: “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”
On the morning of January 3, Baena was discovered by an assistant, who immediately called emergency services, but officers later pronounced the 47-year-old dead at the scene.
Los Angeles Fire Department told the Mail Online in a statement: “Death was determined for an approximately 47-year old male, no transport.”
Los Angeles Police Department added: “We responded to the 2100 block of Fern Dale Place for a death investigation. Officers responded for a male decedent.”
Plaza and Baena had been together since 2011 and got married in 2021 in a ceremony held in the backyard of their Los Angeles home.
“We got married and I’ll tell you how— 1hourmarriage.com,” Plaza told Ellen DeGeneres back in December 2021. “It was our 10-year anniversary. We were in the lockdown, as you know, things got a little crazy, especially in my house.”
The White Lotus star continued: “I just said, ‘Hey it’s our 10-year anniversary. We should do something, get an ice cream cone and do something special.’ And then I joked about getting married and he’s like, ‘Well, we probably couldn’t get married that fast.’ And I said, ‘Well, wouldn’t it be nice to get married on our actual anniversary?’”
Baena graduated from New York University with a film degree and moved to LA in his twenties, seeking to break into the industry.
He worked under big directors such as Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell as he honed his craft, acting as a production assistant for Zemeckis and as an assistant editor for Russell.
As well as directing 2014’s Life After Beth, he also directed The Little Hours and co-wrote I Heart Huckabees, which was nominated for a 2004 Gotham Award for Best Feature.
