Aubrey Plaza and her filmmaker husband Jeff Baena met over a classic board game – after she nearly married another actor.
The White Lotus star’s romance with Baena was born during a game of Balderdash in 2011, Plaza revealed in a 2022 GQ interview. The parlor game also known as ‘Fictionary’ involves guessing the definitions of unusual words.
But before their charming first encounter, Plaza seriously dated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World co-star Michael Cera for about a year and a half.
She told Rolling Stone in 2023 that she and Cera almost ‘spontaneously took a detour and got married’ in Los Vegas.
Baena, 47, tragically died by hanging in his and Plaza’s Los Angeles home on Friday. He was discovered by an assistant that day at around 10:30 am.
Plaza, 40, kept most of their 14-year relationship shielded from the public eye – but offered glimpses of their lives over the years.
The couple worked to multiple films together, which Plaza said helped strengthen their bond. These movies included Life After Beth and The Little Hour.
‘I think that when you’re with someone that is in your field, they understand what you’re dealing with on a deeper level,’ the actress said to People magazine in 2019.
Aubrey Plaza met her late husband Jeff Baena over a game of Balderdash in 2011, she revealed in 2022
Plaza once said being in the same field helped them ‘understand’ each other ‘on a deeper level’
‘So obviously, you are able to support each other and really understand kind of the journey that we’re both on.’
Baena shared his love of being able to work alongside his wife. He told Reel Talker in 2022: ‘She’s awesome. I’d be working with her if she wasn’t my wife, but luckily she is my wife.
‘The opportunity to do something creative [together] where we’re both fulfilled – how rare is that?’
In 2021, the discrete couple made headlines when they secretly got married in a spur of the moment backyard wedding.
The actress subtly launched their marriage in post promoting their movie Spin Me Round in May 2021, in which she referred to Baena as her husband.
While appearing on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show a few months later, she humorously disclosed the details of their out-of-the-ordinary matrimony.
‘We got a little bored one night. So we got married and I’ll tell you how: Onehourmarriage.com. That’s real, look it up,’ she said.
‘We were in the lockdown. Things got a little crazy, especially in my house.’
Plaza had wanted to do something special for the couple’s 10-year anniversary and half-jokingly suggested getting married. Baena liked the idea and they quickly organized a ceremony in their yard.
The parlor game also known as ‘Fictionary’ involves guessing the definitions to unusual words
Baena, a filmmaker, was found dead on Friday in his Los Angeles home around 10:30 am
The officiant she found online arrived after about two hours and she said that her husband nearly missed the ceremony.
‘My now-husband went and picked up food from some restaurant because we had already ordered food,’ she shared.
‘He almost missed the wedding because he had to wait so long for the order.’
But he made in back for their memorable wedding. Plaza said it was a ‘witchy’ ceremony and she made a ‘love altar’ with stones, smoke, ‘facts of our love’ and fire.
Plaza added that she asked her ‘real-life witch’ neighbor to give them her blessing. ‘She went in her house, rummaged around. [Then] came out with a rosemary wreath that she gave me. She literally cackled,’ revealed the star.
‘The [officiant] from Alhambra showed up in a Hawaiian shirt with a briefcase. I can’t remember a lot of it, it was fuzzy. But I’m pretty sure it was legal.’
Instead of the traditional wedding day attire, the pair sported tie-dye pajamas that Baena made. Plaza finished off her look with a crown.
Plaza and Baena worked on several of his films together, including Life After Beth and The Little Hour
Baena had praised his wife and complimented her talent, saying that he is lucky to be married to her
Amid the news that Plaza’s Baena has passed away at age 47, take a look back at their 14-year relationship
The Parks and Recreation actress had also detailed the more difficult situations she and her husband had to overcome, including the ‘challenges’ that come with working together and the ‘death threats’ Baena received for being with a bisexual woman.
Plaza, who previously came out as bisexual, told Cosmopolitan that people in the LGBTQ+ community send Jeff threats after they got married.
‘Jeff got death threats in his DMs,’ she said. ‘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.’
When it came to working together on set, Plaza disclosed that it could be ‘complicated’ at times on The Drew Barrymore show in 2021.
While speaking to Cosmopolitan in 2022, Aubrey said that having a ‘little competition’ has helped keep their romance ‘interesting and fiery.’
‘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.’
The pair first started dating some time in 2011 and got married spontaneously about 10 years later
In an update after his death on Friday, the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office said the 47-year-old died by hanging
In 2022, Plaza told GQ that she considered ‘having a baby during the pandemic,’ but decided against it because of the ‘apocalyptic state of the world.’
She told the publication that she ‘always wanted’ kids, but she was honest about how her relationship had its fair share of ‘rough patches.’
While reflecting on how she related to her White Lotus character Harper, she told the outlet, ‘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.’
