Aubrey Plaza Deactivates Instagram Following Husband Jeff Baena’s Death

Aubrey Plaza has decided to step away from social media as she processes the profound loss of her husband, Jeff Baena, who passed away on January 3. In the week after his death, the actress known for The White Lotus deactivated her Instagram account. Attempts to access her page now return a message indicating "page not found" or "no photos yet."

Jeff Baena, 47, was a writer-director who collaborated extensively with Plaza over the last decade. Records from the Los Angeles medical examiner confirm that he died by suicide. In a statement shared with E! News on January 6, Plaza and the Baena/Stern family remarked, "This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time."

Plaza and Baena, who began their relationship in 2011, mostly kept their marriage private. However, she shared a heartfelt message on Instagram in May 2021. There, she praised Baena, saying, "So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to Italia to cause some more trouble," while working on the film Spin Me Round.

Since Baena's passing, numerous friends and collaborators have publicly honored him. Adam Pally, who acted in Baena's films Life After Beth and Joshy, paid tribute via Instagram on January 5. He said, "Jeff Baena was a sweet, Jewish boy from Miami. He was a collaborator, a mentor, the scrappiest basketball player with the ugliest jump shot you ever saw."

Pally added, "He was a talented director with impeccable taste and vision. He was a connector of people, a fosterer of possibility, the guy who knows where the best restaurant was no matter where you were. An overly gracious host with an almost disturbing open-door policy, a film encyclopedia, and most important to me a friend."

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