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Aubrey Plaza is speaking out after the death of her husband, director Jeff Baena.
In a statement to TODAY.com on Jan. 6, Plaza and the Baena and Stern family call his death “an unimaginable tragedy.”
“This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support,” the statement reads. “Please respect our privacy during this time.”
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Baena died by suicide at his home on Jan. 3, according to their records. He was 47.
The director and screenwriter is known for co-writing 2004’s “I Heart Huckabees,” creating the 2021 Showtime anthology series “Cinema Toast” and directing the 2020 Netflix film “Horse Girl.”
Baena and Plaza worked together over the years on projects like “Life After Beth,” “The Little Hours,” and “Spin Me Round.” The couple maintained a relatively private relationship and said “I do” in 2021 after dating for more than a decade.
During a December 2021 episode of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” Plaza shared that they had been together for 11 years and that they got “married on a whim.”
“Jeff got really into tie-dying during the quarantine, so I decided that Jeff and I were going to wear tie-dye pajamas that he had made for us,” she said. “I made a love altar in the backyard of all of our love objects. It was very witchcore, but it happened.’”
That year, she praised her “darling husband” for creating another great project to work together on.
“So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to italia to cause some more trouble,” she captioned her May 2021 Instagram post.
The statement from Plaza and their family comes after director Brady Corbet acknowledged her and Baena while accepting the best director Golden Globe during the Jan. 5 ceremony.
At the end of his speech, Corbet honored a handful of people he knew who recently died. “And finally, tonight my heart is with Aubrey Plaza and Jeff’s family. Goodnight,” he concluded his speech.