Aubrey Plaza spoke fondly of husband Jeff Baena in rare interview just four months ahead of his death at 47
Aubrey Plaza shared rare insights into marriage to Jeff Baena prior to his shock death at age 47 during a recent interview with Howard Stern.
The 40-year-old actress talked about her marriage to a writer-director during her appearance The Howard Stern Show about three months ago.
In the September 2024 radio program she spoke about maintaining friendships and relationships in her work.
When Stern suggested that marrying a filmmaker instead of an actor was “better for.” [her]the Parks and Recreation alum agreed.
She also talked about how things are “happy” overall, despite Stern pulling out.
When Stern insinuated that her job “didn’t bring you the happiness you thought it would bring,” she said with a laugh, “It’s lonely at the top.”
Aubrey Plaza shared rare insights into marriage to Jeff Baena prior to his shock death at age 47 during a recent interview with Howard Stern; pictured in January 2017 in Park City, Utah
“I don’t know how much of a joke this is, but it sounds like you’re not very happy,” he told her.
‘I really don’t know. I can’t tell you what’s real or not. That’s my problem.’
When Stern asked if she has any friends that she “doubts are really your friends,” she replied, “No, I’m a pretty selective friend.”
“Like, a lot of my friends are friends that I’ve had since, you know, I was in high school or whatever. I mean, I have new friends too, but I don’t go there to make friends.
He then asked her what she doubted was real, and she replied that it was her ‘feelings’.
The White Lotus star explained how being an actor means she is good at “manipulating her feelings,” a trait Stern says is “dangerous.”
He talked about confusing feelings and asked her how she felt competitive about dating someone else in the same career.
She said she “never really dated an actor, been with an actor for a long time or anything like that.”
The 40-year-old actress opened up about her marriage to a writer-director when she appeared on The Howard Stern Show about three months ago. When Stern suggested that marrying a filmmaker instead of an actor was “better for.” [her],” the Parks and Recreation alum agreed; pictured in October 2024 in New York City
Plaza recorded the interview with Stern in September 2024, just months before her husband was found dead in their Los Angeles home at age 47; pictured in July 2014 in New York City
Plaza recorded the interview with Stern in September 2024, just months before her husband was found dead in their Los Angeles home at the age of 47.
Baena was found dead by an aide at his LA home around 10.30am on Friday, DailyMail.com can confirm.
The Life After Beth director was pronounced dead at the scene.
The family told it Term that they are devastated by the news and ask for privacy at this time.
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Baena and the police for comment.
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 and starring Plaza, and The Little Hours.
Baena was found dead by an assistant in his LA home around 10:30 a.m. on Friday
Baena secretly married the White Lotus star in May 2021, ten years after they met in 2011, keeping their relationship largely out of the spotlight.
He 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 secretly married The White Lotus star in May 2021, ten years after they met in 2011, 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.
Their fans only discovered the couple was married after she secretly called him her “dear husband” in an Instagram post
Their fans only discovered the couple was married after she secretly called him her “dear husband” in an Instagram post
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.