Saturday Night Live recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and while the event was filled with both heartfelt and hilarious moments, there was one that turned our eyes glossy. Aubrey Plaza made a small appearance on SNL 50 and what makes it so special is that it was her first public appearance since the passing of her husband, Jeff Baena. Jeff Baena – the writer and director best known for projects like Joshy (2016) and The Litte Hours (2017), passed away earlier this month.
Jeff Baena’s death was confirmed as s*icide. This unexpected turn of events couldn’t have been easy for Aubrey Plaza and when she finally made her public appearance on SNL, she did so by paying a silent, yet loud, tribute to her late husband.
How did Jeff Baena die?
After meeting each other during a game night in 2011, the couple began dating and tied the knot in 2021. Unfortunately, their time together came to an end on January 03 this year when Jeff Baena’s lifeless body was found at his Los Angeles home by his assistant.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirmed the cause of death to be s*icide by hanging (via lacounty.gov). Baena, who found his calling in the art of filmmaking, was only forty-seven years old at the time of his passing whereas Aubrey Plaza is currently forty.
There was a lot of love between Plaza and Baena. She once credited him for a lot of her success, calling him understanding and supportive. The actress once told PEOPLE,
I think that when you’re with someone that is in your field, they understand what you’re dealing with 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.
Three days after his untimely passing, Plaza released a statement to PEOPLE, asking people to respect their privacy as they deal with the “unimaginable tragedy.” We cannot begin to fathom how she must have dealt with the loss of her love.
Aubrey Plaza’s tribute to Jeff Baena on SNL 50
Making her first public appearance since her husband’s death, Plaza made a short cameo on SNL 50 where she introduced Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard just before their performance. All she said was, “Ladies and gentlemen, Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard.”
However, in the blink-and-you-miss-it cameo, Plaza managed to squeeze in a heartfelt tribute to Baena, which you would only have noticed if you knew a particular tidbit from their lives.
While she was dressed in an all-black outfit, she paired it with a simple tie-dye t-shirt, which holds a lot of significance in her life.
Aubrey Plaza stops by #SNL50 to introduce musical guests Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard. https://t.co/ltXJv20kZs pic.twitter.com/BW5V056lbI
— TVLine.com (@TVLine) February 17, 2025
As Plaza once revealed on The Drew Barrymore Show, she and Baena got married “on a whim,” both wearing tie-dye clothes made by Baena himself.
She said,
We got married on a whim, literally decided at like 5 p.m. and got married at like, 8:30. Jeff got really into tie-dyeing during the quarantine, so, I decided that Jeff and I were going to wear tie-dye pajamas that he had made for us.
For her tribute, Plaza didn’t have to utter a single word about her husband or their lives together but the simple gesture spoke volumes about what he actually meant to her. She was also wearing her wedding ring. May she find the strength to deal with the tragedy.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
