Two days after the death of writer/director Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza has released a brief statement responding to the death of her husband. The statement, which is attributed to Plaza and the Baena/Stern family, reads: “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.“
Baena was found dead in a Los Angeles residence on January 3rd, and the L.A. County Coroner’s Office determined the cause of death to be suicide. He was 47.
Baena got his start as a production assistant for Robert Zemeckis before becoming an assistant editor for David O. Russell. However, after a minor car accident injured one of Baena’s eyes, Russell encouraged him to start writing. “He was super-generous, creatively. He allowed me to advocate for any ideas that were in conflict with his ideas,” Baena said of Russell. “We were on the same wavelength, had the same style and interests…It allowed me to have the feeling that I deserved to be there, as opposed to just riding someone’s coattails.” The pair wrote I Heart Huckabees together, which put Baena on the map.
He made his directorial debut with Life After Beth, a zombie comedy starring his future wife, Aubrey Plaza. Baena went on to write and direct Joshy, The Little Hours, Horse Girl, and Spin Me Round. He also created Cinema Toast, an anthology series which told new stories with re-edited, re-scored, and re-dubbed performances from public domain movies.
Plaza has previously said that working in the same industry as Baena allowed them to understand each other more. “Obviously, you are able to support each other and really understand kind of the journey that we’re both on. But, you know, working with your partner can always be challenging. There’s a lot of things we do separately and I think that it’s all about balance,” she said in 2019. “One of the great things about our careers is that we are forced to be independent, 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.“
Suicide is preventable and support can be found through a list of helplines here, and information on suicide prevention from the National Institute of Mental Health can be found here. For additional support, visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 800-273-8255 or Chat with Lifeline via text.