Aubrey Plaza Honors Late Husband Jeff Baena with a Tie-Dye Shirt at SNL’s 50th Anniversary Celebration
The actress made her first public appearance at the special event following her husband’s death
When Aubrey Plaza attended on the SNL50: The Anniversary Special, she had a little tribute to her late husband, Jeff Baena.
On Sunday, Feb. 16, the actress, 40, introduced musical guests Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard during the star-studded special. Plaza was dressed in black dress pants and a black blazer with a tie-dye shirt underneath.
Though she kept her look fairly simple, unbeknownst to fans, the Parks & Rec alum’s tie-dye shirt was an homage to the filmmaker, who died in January 2025, and their 2021 wedding.
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During a December 2021 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Plaza revealed why the design was significant to their relationship. Instead of wearing a traditional dress and tux for their nuptials, she said that the duo decided to go a different direction.
“Jeff got really into tie-dyeing during the quarantine,” she explained at the time. “So, I decided that Jeff and I were going to wear tie-dye pajamas that he had made for us.”
Plaza and Baena were also frequent work partners, and when it came to their personal and professional lives, the actress admitted that the balance was “complicated” but worth it.
“It’s so great. It’s so complicated,” she continued. “It’s extreme highs and extreme complications. It’s a really hard thing to navigate. But man, we’ve been together for 11 years. We just muscle our way through it.”
Plaza began dating Baena in 2011 and married in 2021. A writer and director, Baena’s film credits include I Heart Huckabees (2004), Life After Beth (2014), Horse Girl (2020) and Spin Me Round (2022), his final movie.
On Jan. 3, an assistant discovered Baena’s body at a Los Angeles-area home around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to TMZ, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner, the manner of death was ruled a suicide.
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Plaza and Baena’s family spoke out about his death in a Jan. 6 statement to PEOPLE that read, “This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”
SNL50: The Anniversary Special aired Sunday, Feb. 16, on NBC and Peacock.
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Aubrey Plaza makes first appearance since husband Jeff Baena’s death at ‘SNL 50’ special
She’s coming back for “SNL.”
Aubrey Plaza, 40, made her first public appearance since her husband’s death at “Saturday Night Live’s” 50th anniversary special on Sunday night.
“Saturday Night Live” celebrated 50 years on the air with a three-hour special called “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” Feb. 16 (8 p.m. on NBC and Peacock) — and Plaza was one of the many celebs in attendance.
Plaza’s husband, Jeff Baena, died by suicide on Jan. 3. He was 47.
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Plaza appeared onstage at the special to introduce one of the comedy special’s musical performances – Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard, who sang a cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Plaza broke her silence three days after her husband’s passing in a statement from the couple’s family.
“This is an unimaginable tragedy. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time,” the statement obtained by The Post read.
Baena was a writer and director.
His big break came in 2004 when he co-wrote the screenplay for “I Heart Huckabees” with the film’s director, David O. Russell.
Plaza started dating him in 2011.
They worked together several times in the past, as the former “The White Lotus” actress starred in Baena’s directorial debut, “Life After Beth,” a zombie comedy about a man who discovers that his girlfriend (Plaza) has returned from the dead. The film was nominated for the prestigious Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
The couple married in 2021, but kept their relationship low key and private. Fans only learned it after the “Parks and Recreation” actress referred to the director as “my darling husband” on social media.
“So proud of my darling husband @jeffbaena for dreaming up another film that takes us to Italia to cause some more trouble,” Plaza wrote in the May 2021 Instagram post.
“The marriage was just like a joke that honestly went too far,” Plaza said on “The Drew Barrymore Show” that year.
“We got married on a whim,” she added. “Literally decided at around 5 p.m. and got married at 8:30.”
Plaza was originally scheduled to present at the 2025 Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 5, but bowed out after her husband’s passing.
During the ceremony, which was hosted by Nikki Glaser, Brady Corbet sent love to Plaza while accepting his best director award for “The Brutalist.”
“Tonight my heart is with Aubrey Plaza and Jeff’s family,” Corbet said at the time.
Plaza has stayed under the radar since Baena’s death, but the actress, who hosted Saturday Night Live in the past on January 21, 2023, was one of the many celebs who attended the big 50th anniversary special.
Longtime production designer Keith Raywood told The Post about putting together the special, “We [will] have about 450 people in the studio, which is essentially about 200 people more than we would normally have.”
This number is for the audience, since it will be full of the special guests’ friends and family, he said.
“Imagine all the people who have been on the show – those cast members and hosts. It’s a lot of people [there to see them]. And, those seats don’t normally exist,” he said.
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Aubrey Plaza’s ‘SNL 50’ Tie-Dye Shirt Appears to Be Subtle Nod to Late Husband Jeff Baena
Aubrey Plaza appeared to pay tribute to her late husband, Jeff Baena, during her SNL 50: The Anniversary Special appearance.
While introducing performers Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard on Sunday, February 16, Plaza, 40, wore a pink tie-dyed T-shirt underneath a black blazer. (The two musicians performed a musical tribute to Sinead O’Connor with an acoustic cover of “Nothing Compares to U.”)
The groovy get-up appeared to be a subtle tribute to Baena, who died last month.
“We got married on a whim. Literally decided around 5 p.m. [and] got married at 8:30,” Plaza said during a December 2021 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. “So, Jeff got really into tie-dying during the [coronavirus] quarantine, so I decided that Jeff and I were going to wear tie-dye pajamas that he had made for us.”
Plaza accessorized her ceremony outfit with a “rosemary crown” atop her head when they tied the knot in 2020.
“I made, like, a love altar in the backyard of all our love objects [and] it was very witch-core,” Plaza explained to host Drew Barrymore.
News broke on January 4 that Baena, an indie filmmaker who frequently collaborated with Plaza, died by suicide. He was 47.
“This is an unimaginable tragedy,” a spokesperson for Plaza told Us Weekly in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who has offered support. Please respect our privacy during this time.”
Plaza had started dating Baena in 2011. Her brief appearance at SNL 50 — she did not walk the red carpet or appear in any additional sketches — marked her first public appearance since Baena’s death.
Aside from her brief statement in January, Plaza has not further addressed her husband’s death publicly.
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