Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena were separated for 4 months before his suicide: Medical examiner report | Hollywood
Actor Aubrey Plaza and late director Jeff Baena were reportedly separated months before his suicide in January. Aubrey, 40, and Jeff, 47, separated in September 2024, a report by Philip Kim, Los Angeles County Coroner Investigator, says.
She became concerned about her estranged husband’s welfare months before his death. The Los Angeles County medical examiner concluded Jeff took his own life.
Baena was going through marital problems
Jeff worked with Parks And Recreation star Plaza, 40, on the 2014 horror film Life After Beth and the 2017 historical comedy The Little Hours.
“In October 2024, Baena made concerning remarks which prompted her to call a friend to perform a welfare check on her husband,” the report states. “Baena had been attending therapy since that event. According to (an unnamed person), Baena did not have any previous suicide attempts. He had a history of difficulty sleeping.”
The examiner said Plaza “last knew her husband to be alive when he sent her a text message” on the morning of January 3, the date of his death. The director and screenwriter was found by a dog walker at a home close to the Fern Dell Nature Trail near the Hollywood Hills, with the cause of his death determined as hanging.
Another person, unnamed in the report, said that Plaza moved to New York following their separation. Plaza previously issued a statement along with his family, calling it an “unimaginable tragedy” and saying they were “deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support.”
Plaza and Baena’s relationship
She had been in a relationship with him since around 2011, and they married a decade later. Plaza told The Ellen DeGeneres Show in December 2021 that they made the decision to tie the knot after getting “a little bored one night” during the Covid pandemic.
Plaza was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2023 for her role in the second series of HBO dark comedy White Lotus and is also known for the Disney+ series Agatha All Along. She has also starred in Hollywood films including Megalopolis, My Old Ass, Ingrid Goes West, Dirty Grandpa and Emily The Criminal.
Baena wrote the 2020 thriller Horse Girl, starring Alison Brie, and the 2022 dark comedy Spin Me Round, both of which he also directed. He also co-wrote the 2004 comedy I Heart Huckabees starring Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, and Mark Wahlberg. Additionally, he created the anthology comedy series Cinema Toast, which had an episode directed by Plaza and another starring Community actor Brie.
Last month, Plaza appeared on the 50th-anniversary celebration of Saturday Night Live (SNL), introducing musical guests Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard, who performed a cover of late Irish singer Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U.
