Aubrey Plaza and Her ‘Darling Husband’ Jeff Baena Were Together 13 Years Before His Death: Their Relationship Timeline

Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena have flaunted their decade-plus relationship over the years — both on and off set.

After being associated with Parks and recreation alum since 2011, and after they casually announced their marriage on Instagram a decade later, the director died at age 47 on Jan. 3, PEOPLE confirmed.

Although the couple has remained relatively private, both Baena and Plaza, 40, have occasionally spoken about their connection in life and on film in the past.

Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena at the premiere of ‘The Little Hours’ at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

George Pimentel/Getty

Since they met in 2011, Plaza has starred in many of Baena’s films, including Life after Beth (2014), Small hours (2017) and Spin Me Round (2022). They also teamed up on Plaza’s own directorial debut, via a found-footage anthology series Cinema toast, in 2021

From their private early years to creatively navigating quarantine in the early 2020s, here’s a look back at Plaza and Baena’s relationship.

Who Was Aubrey Plaza’s Late Husband? All about Jeff Baena

2011: Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena meet

Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena at the ‘Life After Beth’ party in Utah in 2014. Jamie McCarthy/Getty

The couple began dating in 2011, though they shared little about their early relationship. According to a GQ to the Plaza profile, she and Baena met during the game Balderdash.

Before that, Plaza was dating Scott Pilgrim vs. the World costar Michael Cera. She said Rolling Stone 2023 that the couple almost “spontaneously went off the beaten track and got married” in Las Vegas.

August 15, 2014: ‘Life After Beth’ is released

In January 2014, Baena’s directorial debut Life after Beth — which starred Plaza — premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, months before its official release. With an additional cast including Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Matthew Gray Gubler and John C. Reilly, the film was later released in August of that year.

In addition to being Baena’s directorial debut, it also marked the duo’s first major team-up, which preceded a string of additional films.

In recounting how the zombie comedy came to be, Baena told the Sundance audience that he almost made the film a decade ago with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the boyfriend, but Plaza helped bring the project together after her name was attached, per Flavorwire.

“It fell through, I walked away from it, but Aubrey’s agent was looking for a part for her, and he remembered this,” he said at the time. “And he said, ‘What happened to that script?’ ”

Plaza remembered something similar in a conversation with Sup in 2014, when she said that since they were together, others had asked her if she was reading her partner Life after Beth script. “But it was a scenario that’s still etched in a lot of people’s minds, and one of my agents at the time was one of those people. And Jeff’s not that kind of person—he doesn’t like to talk about business, we don’t talk about that much business,” Plaza said.

“He’s not into business or anything, so he never gave me a script and said, ‘Do this.’ So I kind of had to get him to read it and then I read it and it felt so freaking good, and it felt perfect for me and he felt the same, so then we started the process,” she added.

As for working with her then-boyfriend, Plaza said she was “nervous,” but it ended up being “great.”

“I thought, either we’re going to break up or we’re going to be together forever,” she joked. “It was great, he’s a great director and it also didn’t surprise me because his brain works on another level — he’s so smart and has so many opinions and is a very confident person who always knows what he wants.”

Aubrey Plaza marries longtime love Jeff Bae: ‘My Darling Husband’

June 30, 2017: Release of ‘The Little Hours’

Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena arrive at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival screening of ‘The Little Hours’.

Michael Tran/FilmMagic

Baena’s 2017 medieval comedy Small hours it also marked another collaboration with his future wife, as his third feature as a director was produced by and starred Plaza. Other actors in the project were Alison Brie, Dave Franco, John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon.

In a joint interview with Silver Screen Riot in 2017, the director-actor duo were asked if they would bounce ideas off each other because of how close they are.

“Honestly, I don’t really bounce ideas off anybody,” Baena said at the time. “It’s not by choice, I kind of created this isolated space. When I first came out, I was writing with someone, so I was so used to rejecting ideas so that I have this internal dialogue that happens instead of externalizing.”

“With Aubrey, it’s more about her character and what she’s going through than the movie itself. But we’re not really collaborating in terms of co-writing things as of now,” he added.

Speaking to MovieFreak.com around the same time, Plaza said that while she doesn’t like to “get super personal about our relationship,” she called it “an amazing experience to work with my partner in this way.”

“I’ve worked with Jeff since his first movie. I’ve seen him develop and I’ve seen him grow. It’s a really special dynamic that we have,” she continued. “Sometimes it’s challenging, but it’s also really rewarding to do something like this together. I don’t know what else to say.”

June 27, 2019: Plaza says their relationship ‘never gets old’

Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza at Lisa Edelstein’s birthday party in May 2016 in Silverlake, CA.

David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Talk to PEOPLE in 2019 during the promotion Child’s playPlaza shared a rare insight into her relationship.

“I think when you’re with someone who’s in your field, they understand what you’re dealing with on a deeper level. So obviously you’re able to support each other and you really understand the kind of journey that we’re both on,” Plaza said. “So I think it can be really great. But, you know, working with a partner can always be challenging. There are a lot of things that we do separately and I think it’s all in balance.”

“I think one of the great things about our careers is that we’re forced to be independent, take little breaks, go off and do our own thing and come back,” she added. “So that’s kind of fun. Nothing is the same anymore. You don’t want to spend too much time apart. But I think there’s a way it can work and there’s a balance to it.”

February 14, 2020: A rare post for Valentine’s Day

Plaza paid tribute to her partner with a cheeky post for Valentine’s Day 2020, with a picture of her holding a dagger towards him on what looked like a movie set.

“And Happy Valentine’s Day 🖤,” she captioned the photo on Instagram.

April 20, 2021: ‘Cinema Toast’ and their ‘great’ collaboration

Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza promote ‘The Little Hours’ at Build Studio on June 29, 2017. Monica Schipper/FilmMagic

In 2021, Plaza made her directorial debut on Showtime’s found footage anthology series, Cinema toastcreated Baen. Speaking to PEOPLE days later, she called it a “great” experience working together again — and reflected on their experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was very hectic when we were doing the show because we were in quarantine and Jeff, he created the show. It was his idea,” she said.

“Our house has become a weird post-production facility and he’s downstairs on his Zooms or on his sessions and I’m upstairs editing, we just go back and forth,” Plaza added. “Yeah, it was very strong for us. We didn’t bake sourdough bread, but we searched through hours of old film and footage and recut it and just let our minds travel. So it was great.”

Of the quarantine, she added that they “enjoyed it,” explaining, “I think that, obviously, aside from all the catastrophic things that are going on in the world, just on a personal level, a relationship level, it was kind of nice just to be forced to be in one place for so long, could is to go both ways, I suppose.”

May 7, 2021: casual wedding announcement

In May 2021, Plaza casually announced the news of their marriage on Instagram, calling Baen her “dear husband” ahead of the 2022 release. Spin Me Round. A representative for Plaza later confirmed the news to PEOPLE.

“So proud of my dear husband @jeffbaen for coming up with another movie that takes us to Italy to cause more trouble,” she wrote at the time.

Per GQthe couple tied the knot in what the publication described as a “quick ceremony” in 2020.

November 28, 2022: Plaza opens up about their relationship

During the conversation with GQwhile discussing her White lotus character Harper, Plaza spoke briefly about her relationship with Baena.

“I have been with my husband for 12 years,” she said. “I relate to a relationship that has its ups and downs, going through a rough patch, and comparing myself to another couple that seems perfect.”

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