Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza separated months prior to Baena's suicide: Medical examiner
Baena and Plaza had been separated since September 2024, the report said.
The 47-year-old was discovered in his home by an assistant on Jan. 3, according to law enforcement sources who spoke to ABC News at the time.
Jeff Baena, filmmaker and husband of Aubrey Plaza, dies at 47
The county medical examiner confirmed that Baena died by suicide.
At the time of his death, Plaza and Baena's family released a statement and called it "an unimaginable tragedy."
"We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support," the statement said. "Please respect our privacy during this time."
Actors and musicians we said goodbye to in 2024
Baena was best known for directing the horror-comedy "Life After Beth," the dark comedy "Joshy" and for co-writing the cult classic "I Heart Huckabees" with filmmaker David O. Russell.
He and Plaza had been married since 2021 and frequently worked together on projects, with Plaza starring in several of Baena's films, including "Life After Beth," "The Little Hours" and "Spin Me Round."
"Good Morning America" has reached out to Plaza's reps for comment.Jeff Baena, Aubrey Plaza separated months prior to Baena's suicide: Medical examiner originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

a day ago
Stray kitten joins rat race aboard New York City subway, is later adopted by rescuer
A stray kitten that became an internet sensation after boarding a New York City subway train last week has been adopted by one of her fellow commuters. Emmie -- an ode to the MTA -- is now a Harlem resident after subway rider Betsaida Mercado, who initially whisk-ered the kitten to safety, decided to keep the two-month-old feline. Mercado said she was heading to work in downtown Manhattan when she noticed other passengers smiling and looking curiously around the subway car. Little Emmie had quietly boarded the train -- barely clearing the gap -- and was making the rounds, greeting other passengers. When she first heard the wayward meows, Mercado recalls thinking Emmie was "super, super small." Then, after no other riders claimed her as their own, Mercado stepped in, scooping the kitten up and heading back home with her. "I am proud of myself for doing that," Mercado said, noting that she's grateful for the serendipitous rush hour train ride that yielded her a new four-legged friend. She took Emmie to the vet the next day, where they confirmed that the kitten was not microchipped and was free to be adopted. "The minute we walked in, everyone knew her story," Mercado said, having posted the video of Emmie's unique commute to social media. "Everyone wanted to take a picture with her like, 'Oh my God -- it's the Insta-famous cat.'" To help pay for vet bills, Mercado started a fundraiser for Emmie, raising more than $3,000 after the video of the subway kitten went viral. She closed the fundraiser shortly after, saying that the funds were "too much for her to accept," and adding that she plans to donate leftover proceeds to a few animal shelters in Manhattan. One week later, Emmie is now living with her new sibling, a 13-year-old dog named King, and is adjusting to indoor life just fine, Mercado said. "Now [we are] being rewarded with a beautiful baby kitten," Mercado told ABC News. And despite the morning chaos, Mercado was able to rescue Emmie -- and make it to work that same day -- on time.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
‘Today,' ‘GMA' & ‘CBS Mornings' Ratings Show Dramatic Swing
The latest morning news ratings have seen a surprising swing towards ABC News, with Good Morning America landing in the top spot in both total viewers and the key demo for the first time in almost two years. According to AdWeek, citing live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen for the week of July 21, GMA knocked NBC News' Today show from its longtime spot at the top of the ratings charts. GMA averaged 2.625 million total viewers and 481,000 viewers in the coveted Adults 25-54 demo, marking the first time since the week of August 7, 2023, the show has held the top spot in both measured categories. Compared to the week prior, GMA was up 1% in total viewers and 8% in the key demo. The show also held up well compared to the same week in 2024 (the week of July 22), remaining flat in the demo and down just 1% in total viewers. The Today show fell to second place in both total viewers and demo, with 2.297 million total viewers and 474,000 in the demo. Compared to the week before, Today was down 5% in total viewers and 10% in the demo. The show was also down on 2024, with -12% in total viewers and -20% in the key demo. CBS Mornings occupied the third spot with 1.8 million total viewers and 287,000 viewers in the demo for the week of July 21. While the show was down 2% in total viewers on the week prior, it was up 11% in the demo, making it the only network to gain double-digit improvements. However, compared to 2024, CBS Mornings was down 10% in total viewers and 20% in the demo. GMA is hosted by , , , and , with as contributor. Meanwhile, Today is helmed by , (who replaced Hoda Kotb back in January), , , , , and . CBS Mornings is hosted by , , and Tony Dokoupil, with Vladimir Duthiers and Adriana Diaz serving as fill-ins. , Weekdays, 7am/6c, ABC , Weekdays, 7am/6c, NBC , Weekdays, 7am/6c, CBS Solve the daily Crossword


Fox News
a day ago
- Fox News
BROADCAST BIAS: ABC compares Sydney Sweeney ad to Nazis as networks go nuts about her ‘genes'
The typical time that broadcast networks report on the advertising world is just before Super Bowl Sunday, to give viewers an advance peek at what companies will be shelling out millions to display. The clothing company American Eagle just scored a marketing coup with ad with White actress Sydney Sweeney making a sly joke about her "genes" and her jeans. "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color," cooed the actress. "My jeans are blue." This quickly spurred outrage from purple-haired TikTokers and leftist websites complaining about "centering Whiteness" and "fascist propaganda." On Tuesday, July 29, ABC's "Good Morning America First Look" was already employing the word "backlash." Anchor Rhiannon Ally began: "Time to check the pulse, we begin with the backlash over a new ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney." Co-anchor Andrew Dymburt added "in one ad, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress talks about genes as in DNA being passed down from her parents." Then Ally lowered the boom: "The play on words is being compared to Nazi propaganda with racial undertones." Robin Landa, a professor of advertising at Kean University in New Jersey, brought the leftist theme: "The pun 'good genes' activates a troubling historical association for this country. The American Eugenics Movement and its prime between 1900 and 1940 weaponized the idea of good genes just to justify White supremacism." In other interviews, Landa took the eugenics thing to its illogical conclusion, that one could suspect the American Eagle company was not just promoting "White genetic superiority," but a movement that "enabled the forced sterilization of marginalized groups." Most people just saw them selling their jeans as sexy. At least Dymburt suggested the backlash wasn't economic: "Despite that backlash, American Eagle stock has been soaring." But was there any serious "backlash" beyond the Left? cited anonymous sources inside American Eagle claiming "the ad campaign is creating tremendous buzz and their independent polling shows the vast majority of folks — around 70% — find the commercial appealing." On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed "American Eagle's new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words." It couldn't be "clever"? Did this company know and expect that purple-haired leftists would cry Nazi and that would lead to an avalanche of social-media impressions and debates? It's hard to argue they stumbled into this, not knowing what a blonde, White actress using wordplay about "genes" could cause. On NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday, co-host Steve Inskeep discussed the Sweeney ads with Metaforce marketing guru Allen Adamson. Inskeep explained "There was some social media commentary. 'Oh, there's something racist about this.' And I get that, I understand people raising that. But I think there's also something real here — isn't it? — in that advertisers do think about the race and ethnicity, the look of the people they choose to pitch their products to us." Adamson claimed: "For years, the tide was flowing in a different direction. There was a pressure on advertisers to diversify, to show people in ads that usually were not shown in ads because that was unusual. All the ads had a sort of 'Leave It to Beaver' old-fashioned look." The 'Beaver' line is overdoing it, but advertisers after the George Floyd riots absolutely worked hard to diversify the actors in their ads. It's not offensively "woke" to have minorities of all kinds selling you Eggo waffles or McDonald's burgers. That's all still too capitalist for the left-wingers. But having a White actress joke about race clearly grabbed attention. On the CBS News streaming channel, business reporter Jo Ling Kent relayed "American Eagle's new ad campaign, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, is coming under fire for what was supposed to be a clever play on words." It couldn't be "clever"? The NPR anchor suggested Trump was part of the formula: "So if people were going for diversity in past years, are advertisers going for some other look now that the politics of the country are a little different?" Adamson said yes, because "advertising needs to disrupt the norm." On Wednesday night's "Late Show" on CBS, Stephen Colbert actually hinted that the leftist backlash was a little strident. "Some people look at this and they're seeing something sinister, saying that the genes-jeans denim wordplay in an ad featuring a White blond woman means American Eagle could be promoting eugenics, White supremacy and Nazi propaganda. That might be a bit of an overreaction — although Hitler did briefly model for Mein Kampfort Fit Jeans." Colbert added: "How do you say 'badonk' in German?" The broadcast networks didn't launch too heavily into this ad campaign, perhaps suspicious of being part of a sneaky advertising plot, as Brian Stelter tried to call it a "nontroversy." Sometimes, an ad for jeans is all about selling jeans.