Aubrey Plaza and her husband Jeff Baena posed with pals in fun-filled 2024 New Year’s snaps – a year before his tragic death by suicide

Aubrey Plaza and her husband Jeff Baena posed with friends in rare and fun New Year’s 2024 photos, a year before her tragic death.

Filmmaker Jeff, 47, committed suicide inside the Los Angeles home he shared with his wife, actress Aubrey, 40.

In an update after his death on Friday, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said he died by hanging at his Los Feliz property.

A year earlier, things were very different as they spent time with their friends for New Year’s, including Criminal Minds star Matthew Gray Gubler.

She shared snapshots of their festivities on her Twitter account on January 8, 2024 with the couple happily enjoying the celebrations.

They were seen drinking champagne, while Jeff and Matthew took a sweet photo together in front of a Christmas tree in a New York apartment block.

Sharing the snaps Matthew had written in his caption: “My New Year’s resolution to ‘never be in public’ is off to a wonderful start.”

Baena’s 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 a man of approximately 47 years old, without transportation, was determined,” they said in a statement.

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

Baena’s family said Deadline They are devastated by the news and ask for privacy at this time.

The couple was last seen together on a hike last summer, six months before her tragic suicide. On July 5, they were seen enjoying a walk through 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.

Baena dedicated himself to film after graduating in film from New York University and moving to Los Angeles to launch his career.

He worked in low-level positions for big name directors, including Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell, while finding his place in the industry. He worked as a production assistant for Zemeckis and as an editing assistant for Russell.

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

Baena also co-wrote I Heart Huckabees, which was nominated for the 2004 Gotham Award for Best Picture.

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 the Grand Jury Prize.

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

For his television work, he directed and executive produced the Showtime series Cinema Toast. He co-led the product with his wife.

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

On a Reddit Ask Me Anything forum he was asked if the film’s protagonist, Sarah, played by Alison Brie, being discharged from the psychiatric hospital and whether the scene was based on personal experiences.

Baena openly admitted to having seen his stepmother suffer from bipolar disorder and said: “Unfortunately, people are released all the time when they still need treatment,” he wrote in February 2020.

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

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

“While I wouldn’t consider ‘Horse Girl’ to be an activist film, the themes of how we, as a society and as individuals, treat people with mental illness were an important focus and drive in making it.”

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

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

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

She 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 spoken publicly about her husband’s death.

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

In her last post with Baena shared in May 2021, the award-winning actress praised her ‘dear husband’.

“I’m so proud of my dear husband @jeffbaena for coming up with another movie that takes us to Italy to cause more trouble,” she captioned the post.

The heartbreaking last post together showed 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, his stepfather Roger Stern, his stepmother Michele Baena, his brother Brad Baena, and his stepsiblings Bianca Gabay and Jed Fluxman.

Aubrey enjoyed a New York Knicks game just two days before his tragic death.

The actress sat front row at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Day to watch the local team play the Utah Jazz.

In a photo shared on the Knicks’ Instagram, Plaza appeared in a pair of jeans, a black corduroy jacket and an orange peaked cap over her straight brunette locks.

“Starting the new year with our friends on the court,” the organization wrote alongside a carousel of high-profile fans, including Tracee Ellis Ross, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann and her daughter, Maude, and Keenan Michael Key.

It comes as Aubrey was scheduled to appear at the 2025 Golden Globes before her tragic death.