Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena were last seen together on a hike last summer in rare public sighting before his suicide

Aubrey Plaza and her husband Jeff Baena were last seen together last summer on a walk, six months before his tragic suicide.

An assistant found him dead in his home Friday morning, and when authorities arrived, he was pronounced dead at the scene at the age of 47.

In an update following his death, the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office said the filmmaker died by hanging at his and Plaza’s Los Feliz property.

Plaza, 40, started dating Baena in 2011 and they married in 2021, keeping their relationship largely out of the public eye.

The last time they were seen together was on July 5, when they enjoyed a walk in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

Dressed in casual walking clothes, the couple appeared relaxed in each other’s company as they visited the park, a favorite among locals.

His body was discovered by an assistant at the home they bought in 2022 and officers responded to the home at 10:25 a.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department told DailyMail.com.

“The death of an approximately 47-year-old man was confirmed, no transportation,” they said in a statement.

“We responded to the 2100 block of Fern Dale Place for a death investigation. Officers responded to a male deceased,” the Los Angeles Police Department added. The Life After Beth director was pronounced dead at the scene.

Baena’s family told them Term that they are devastated by the news and ask for privacy at this time.

Baena got into film after graduating from New York University with a film degree and moving to LA to launch his career.

He worked at a low level for major directors, including Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell, as he gained a foothold in the industry. He worked as a production assistant for Zemeckis and as an assistant editor for Russell.

He is best known for directing Life After Beth, his directorial debut, which starred Plaza, and The Little Hours.

Baena also co-wrote I Heart Huckabees, which was nominated for a 2004 Gotham Award for Best Feature Film.

He also wrote Life After Beth, which premiered at Sundance in 2014. His film Joshy also premiered at the famous festival and was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.

The Miami native also worked on Horse Girl and Spin Me Round.

Before his television works, he directed and produced the Showtime series Cinema Toast. He co-directed the product with his wife.

He had also previously spoken candidly about mental health ahead of the release of his 2020 film Horse Girl.

He was asked on a Reddit Ask Me Anything forum whether the film’s protagonist, Sarah, played by Alison Brie, to have been released from the psychiatric hospital and whether the scene was based on personal experiences.

Baena openly admitted that he watched his stepmother suffer from bipolar disorder, saying: “Unfortunately, people are released all the time while still in need of treatment,” he wrote in February 2020.

‘The mandatory 72-hour waiting period only applies to patients who pose a risk to themselves, so they must be released after that assessment period.

“My first stepmother had manic depression and was in and out of facilities in Miami due to the Baker Act (5150 in California).

“While I wouldn’t consider ‘Horse Girl’ an activist film, the themes of how we as a society and individuals treat people with mental illness were a major focus and motivation for making this film.”

Baena and Brie co-wrote the film about the latter’s family history with mental illness, particularly the actress’ grandmother, who suffered from schizophrenia.

“That was the original impetus for writing a story like this,” Brie, who is married to actor Dave Franco, wrote on the forum.

The director and husband of Aubrey Plaza also said that his family history with mental illness also influenced the film’s plot.

He secretly married The White Lotus star in 2020, almost a decade after they met, keeping their relationship largely out of the spotlight.

Plaza has not commented publicly on her husband’s death.

The actress’s latest Instagram post with her husband showed how “proud” she was of him.

In her last post with Baena, shared in May 2021, the award-winning actress praised her “sweet husband.”

“So proud of my sweet husband @jeffbaena for coming up with another movie that takes us to Italy to cause even more trouble,” she captioned the post.

The heartbreaking final post together saw the star couple gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes and was accompanied by screenshots from a Deadline article detailing their “new assignment”: the 2022 film Spin Me Round.

Baena is survived by his wife, his mother Barbra Stern, stepfather Roger Stern, his stepmother Michele Baena, his brother Brad Baena and his step-siblings Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.