26-02-2025
Michelle Trachtenberg Gave a Telling Health Update a Year Before Her Sudden Death
Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Michelle Trachtenberg is dead.
Trachtenberg was found dead at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at One Columbus Place, a luxury apartment on Central Park South in New York City, police sources told The New York Post. She was 39 years old. Her death isn't being investigated as suspicious, sources told The New York Post.
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While Trachtenberg's exact cause of death hasn't been confirmed at the time of writing, a source told TMZ that Trachtenberg underwent a liver transplant before her death and had struggled with alcohol issues for years. She was also out with friends the Thursday before her death at the restaurant Sartiano's in New York City.
Trachtenberg also gave an update on her health the year prior in January 2024 when she addressed speculation around her weight loss on Instagram. 'I've received several comments recently about my appearance. I have never had plastic surgery I am happy and healthy. Check yourself haters,' she wrote at the time.
Before her death, Trachtenberg was best known for starring as Georgina Sparks on The CW's Gossip Girl from 2008 to 2012. She reprised her role for the series' reboot in 2022 and 2023. Trachtenberg was also known for starring as Dawn Summers on The WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 2000 to 2003, as well as Casey Carlyle in the popular Disney Channel original movie Ice Princess in 2005. She made her film debut as Harriet M. Welsch in the 1996 movie Harriet the Spy.
She told Black Film in 2005 about the injuries she sustained while starring in Ice Princess, in which she played a figure skater. 'I tore a couple of ligaments, dislocated knee or so, did a little bit of here and there,' she said at the time.. 'It sounds really bad, but those are all things that happen to athletes.'
In an Instagram post in February 2020, Trachtenberg opened up about the bullying she faced as a kid while supporting her family as a child actor.
'So. It's valentines week. Back in my day all the kids had to write a bullshit Valentine's Day card to everyone in the class. I never got one on purpose, everyone got a valentine card. No one ever gave me one and they thought I didn't need the attention,' she wrote. 'The kids and staff all laughed and thought everyone else should get one, being an actress since I was 3, apparently I didn't need one. No one gave a thought I was helping my family pay bills. I was just the girl on the tv, it was just that their kid wasn't on tv.'
She continued, 'This is challenging for me to post as people always contact me on social media saying oh my brother my sister went to school with you, you were best friends! False. The kids were cruel. There is no need to harp on the past. But I still have scars from being thrown down stairs and slammed into lockers head first. I write this to every child, teen, person, out there who is bullied. You are something. Do not put your value in someone else. Not letting them win, is your win.'
She ended her post by dedicating the Instagram to the teachers who gave her the confidence that took her into adulthood. 'So actually my valentines goes to three teachers who protected me and I think about to this day. Mrs. Vollman (she let me eat lunch in her classroom so the kids wouldn't throw out my food or throw their food at me),' she wrote. 'Mrs. Lighter (who helped me love learning and let me read books in her classroom) Mr. Beckman (he saw I was a writer and challenged me, as a former college professor and wanted to see my writing succeed) Thank you to you all. #Grateful for life.'
Eight years before her own death, Trachtenberg honored her late friend Nick Ackerman — a bassist for the brand The Virgins — who had passed away at a young age.
'I don't normally like to share personal heartbreak on social media. But I had to share the story of one of my closest dearest friend, #nickackerman,' she captioned a photo of the two. 'He was a unique soul, a true friend and someone who was always there for me. He inspired the path my life took in so many ways. Nicky, I spoke to you a few weeks ago, we had plans to get together and laugh about the silly things in our lives. I will forever miss this opportunity to say to you I love you, one more time. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. Your influence will forever be remembered in the hearts of everyone who loved you Nicky. Life is short. Fuck the haters. Be grateful for the magic that is being alive. RIP my love. 💔 we will always hear your music in our hearts. 🎶.'
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