{"id":11996,"date":"2025-01-06T15:02:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T15:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/06\/jeff-baenas-cause-of-death-released\/"},"modified":"2025-01-06T15:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T15:02:26","slug":"jeff-baenas-cause-of-death-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/06\/jeff-baenas-cause-of-death-released\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Baena\u2019s cause of death released"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/em> Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US, call or text 988, the <\/em>Suicide & Crisis Lifeline<\/em>.<\/em>
Globally, the <\/em>International Association for Suicide Prevention <\/em>and <\/em>Befrienders Worldwide<\/em> have contact information for crisis centers around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

A cause of death for writer and director Jeff Baena, whose credits include \u201cLife After Beth\u201d and \u201cThe Little Hours,\u201d has been determined. <\/p>\n

Baena was found deceased last week at his home in Los Angeles. He died by suicide, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. Baena was 47. <\/p>\n

He and Plaza married in 2021 and the two had worked on several projects together, including the 2014\u2019s horror-comedy \u201cLife After Beth\u201d and the 2017 historical comedy \u201cThe Little Hours.\u201d <\/p>\n

More recently, the couple collaborated on the 2021 comedy series \u201cCinema Toast,\u201d and the 2022 film \u201cSpin Me Round.\u201d <\/p>\n

Plaza had been scheduled to be a presenter at Sunday night\u2019s Golden Globe Awards but did not attend. Director Brady Corbet acknowledged the tragedy at the event, when he accepting an award for \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, tonight my heart is with Aubrey Plaza and Jeff\u2019s family,\u201d Corbet said at the end of his acceptance speech. <\/p>\n

Plaza and Baena had been a couple since 2011 and she talked to People in 2021 about how the Covid-19 pandemic had strengthened their relationship. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were quarantined for months and months like everybody else,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cAnd we did enjoy it. I think it was, obviously other than all of the catastrophic things happening in the world, just on a personal level, relationship level, was kind of nice to just be forced to be in one place for that long.\u201d <\/p>\n

Her husband is known for co-writing the acclaimed 2004 film \u201cI Heart Huckabees,\u201d which featured Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, and for writing and directing the 2016 dramedy \u201cJoshy\u201d starring Thomas Middleditch. <\/p>\n

Baena co-wrote \u201cHorse Girl\u201d with the film\u2019s star, Alison Brie, and also directed it. Prior to the 2020 release, he participated in an \u201cAsk Us Anything\u201d session with Reddit users and talked about what inspired the film. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlison and I both have had family members who have had mental illness, and it was a major influence on working on this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

His first stepmother, he wrote, had struggled with manic depression. Baena responded to a Reddit user\u2019s question as to whether the film was a statement about how the healthcare system \u201cfailing\u201d those with mental health issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I would not consider \u2018Horse Girl\u2019 to be an activist film, the themes of how we as a society and individuals treat persons with mental illness was a major focus and impetus for making this,\u201d Baena wrote. <\/p>\n

Several stars who had worked with Baena publicly mourned him. <\/p>\n

\u201cSNL\u201d alum Molly Shannon, who starred in four of his films, including his 2014 directorial debut \u201cLife After Beth,\u201d posted an undated photo with him on social media with a broken heart emoji. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}