White Lotus star Aubrey Plaza’s director husband Jeff Baena found dead at LA home age 47 as family left ‘devastated’
POPULAR filmmaker Jeff Baena has been found dead aged 47.
Baena, who married actress Aubrey Plaza in 2021, is best known for Indie movies such as Life After Beth, Joshy and The Little Hours.
The U.S. Sun obtained the LA County Fire Department's radio call which states it dispatched a unit "to a hanging" at the address in Los Feliz.
His body was found by an assistant at the property, which the couple bought together in 2022, at 10.25am.
Baena was pronounced dead at the scene.
Los Angeles Police Department told The U.S. Sun: "We responded to a death Investigation and the case is being handled by the Coroner's Office."
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The LA County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the screenwriter died by hanging.
Baena's family have been left "devastated" by the sudden news and have asked for privacy, say US outlet .
Baena and Plaza, best known for her roles in Parks and Recreation, White Lotus and Dirty Grandpa, tied the knot over fours years ago after being together for a decade.
They kept both the engagement and marriage a secret before Plaza described Baena as her "darling husband" in a touching Instagram post some time after.
The post was also the final upload of the couple both together before his death.
Baena was born and raised in Miami before he headed to New York to attend film school at university.
He then started his journey as a filmmaker in Los Angeles where he became a writer.
In 2004 he co-wrote the hit film I Heart Huckabees and worked with Hollywood elites Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law and Naomi Watts.
A decade later, he found his big solo break with the 2014 zombie flick Life After Beth which starred his eventual wife Plaza as well as comedy star John C. Reilly.
The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize before its A24 release.
Plaza publicly praised her then boyfriend for helping her cut through the film and TV industry.
She told : "I think that when you’re with someone that is in your field, they understand what you’re dealing with on a deeper level.
"So obviously you are able to support each other and really understand kind of the journey that we’re both on."
Aubrey and Jeff had been together for over a decade but haven't appeared on social media together since 2021 - the year they got married.
That rare post showed them looking lovingly at one another with Aubrey captioning it: "So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that take us to Italia to cause some more trouble."
Baena's career saw him be nominated for several awards for his writing and directorial skills.
He bagged himself a second Grand Jury Prize nomination in 2016 for Joshy.
His The Little Hours project from a year later was also put up for the Audience Award at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival.
He also had a go at writing for TV with the Showtime series Cinema Toast which he created, wrote, directed and executive produced.
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Baena has left behind his wife, mum Barbra Stern, stepfather Roger Stern and stepmother Michele Baena.
He also has one brother in Brad and two step siblings in Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.
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