Aubrey Plaza’s Low-Key Husband Jeff Baena Is So Supportive and Cute
Our beloved April Ludgate from Parks and Rec has serious range: Aubrey Plaza—who was Cosmo's Holy Grail Issue cover star in 2022, NBD—is one of the most underrated actors of our time (director Edgar Wright thinks she should be the next Lara Croft, which, YES). While we still catch our breath from her incredible role in season 2 of The White Lotus, let us explore Aubrey's equally cool husband, shall we?
Aubrey's hubs, Jeff Baena, is also her long-time collaborator who's worked with her on The Little Hours, among other projects. He's got a fun, low-key energy, but he's made some really interesting and totally varied projects—from a zombie rom-com to psychotic sweary nuns, the man has a lot of ideas! He and Aubrey don't talk much about their 12-year relationship (yep, they've been together for a while), but from what we can piece together through interviews and social media, there are looots of hints at an ~adorable~ coupling. Oh, and the internet *exploded* when they quietly announced they were married, but more on that in a bit. Come with me as we basically fall in love with the two of them and how easy they make it look to be a couple, work in Hollywood, and just be low-key as hell about the whole thing.
Jeff's a writer and director.
Per IMDb, Jeff was born in June 29, 1977 in Miami (Aubrey was born in 1984, and their birthdays are ~three days~ apart!!), so yes, he is a cancer. The movie you'd prob recognize of his is I Heart Huckabees, which he co-wrote, and Life After Beth, the zombie comedy starring none other than Aubrey herself.
In case you're wondering, Jeff's private on Instagram (more on why that might be in a sec), but he and Aubrey also collabed on The Little Hours, Joshy, and Spin Me Round. When asked, Jeff is super-sweet about her, saying, "She's awesome. I'd be working with her if she wasn't my wife, but luckily she's my wife." He added, "The opportunity to do something creative [together] where we're both fulfilled—how rare is that?" UGH, it's so cute.
They're pretty quiet about their lives—but not totally.
According to People, the couple was first spotted together in 2011. In case you wanna deep dive on their chemistry, may I suggest this two-minute clip in which they compare movies they love and adorably out-deadpan each other:
They both work in show biz, and Aubrey told People it "can always be challenging," but that since they both do their own thing, it's nice and balanced. "I think that one of the great things about our careers is that we are forced to be independent, take little breaks, go off and do our things and come back." Cosmo asked Aubrey whether on-set competition is good for partners, and she had a v cute answer:
I think collaboration is key. You have to create a really safe space to work together, because you’re the one person that can really offend your partner and you’re the one person that they want approval from the most, and then you’re also the one person that could, like, take them down so hard-core. There are weird power dynamics too when one person’s a director and one person’s an actor. There are all these unspoken rules. I don’t know. I don’t want to compete with my partner. I want to compete with everyone else.
Aubrey opened up to GQ about their 'ship a bit back in November 2022 when talking about similarities between herself and her White Lotus character Harper. She told the outlet that, like Harper, she's always wanted to have kids and even considered parenthood during the pandemic. She added, “I’ve been with my husband for 12 years. I relate to being in a relationship that has peaks and valleys, and going through a rough patch and comparing yourself to another couple that seems perfect.”
He totally knows how awesome she is.
Aubrey came out as bisexual in 2016 and played a romantic foil for Kristen Stewart in 2020's Christmas rom-com Happiest Season (like, go watch that film if you have no idea what I'm talking about, but she was the underrated fan fave of the movie). Fun fact and kind of spoilers: Spin Me Round also has a queer romance! And that was intentional, according to Jeff:
“I know, especially after ‘Happiest Season’ when people were vying for Aubrey and Kristen Stewart’s character to be together, that was definitely in our minds when we were writing this because Alison was also in that movie...I’m spoiled in the sense that I have easy access to [Aubrey], but I’m always amazed by her performances and how brilliant she is and what she brings to the table in terms of intensity and intention.”
Gahhh, that's so cute.
Aubrey casually announced she was married in 2021.
The couple gave a few, super-sweet details about the actual day—Aubrey has joked that they "got bored one night" during quarantine and used Onehourmarriage.com to get it done (lol), but the idea began because they wanted to commemorate their decade of romance (awww).
Apparently, they had a "witchy" ceremony, where Aubrey went across the street to visit her "real-life witch" neighbor for a blessing. "She went in her house, rummaged around. [Then] came out with a rosemary wreath that she gave me. She literally cackled...I created a very quick love altar in our yard. Facts of our love, little stones, smoke, fire. Things of that nature." She wore the crown and they both wore tie-dye PJs that Jeff had made during quarantine. Incredible.
Fans discovered the news after Aubrey just casually dropped the word "husband" in a post about working with Jeff on Spin Me Round:
And now Jeff's IMDb reads, "He has been married to Aubrey Plaza since May 7, 2021," which I enjoy.
Then...the internet kinda spiraled.
The bisexual community, particularly on Twitter, were...incredibly sad, to say the least. Seriously! In her inty with Cosmo, Aubrey admitted Jeff had gotten death threats on his social media. But fans quickly came to her defense that, like, she can still be bi and married to a man:
and let us all remind each other that yes we can be sad aubrey plaza did not marry us, but no we canNOT be biphobic bc she married a man pic.twitter.com/roUimdqPaw
— 🌙georgia bridgers🌙 (@GeorgiaBridgers) May 7, 2021
And Aubrey explained to Cosmo, "People project so much stuff onto marriage, but it wasn’t some big statement I’m trying to make where I want everybody to react to it." You tell 'em!!
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