Michelle Trachtenberg, known for starring in Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is reportedly dead at 39, according to the New York Post. Sources told the Post that Trachtenberg’s mother found her body on February 26 in her apartment in New York City. Trachtenberg had reportedly had a liver transplant recently. Police sources tell the Post her death is not being investigated under suspicious causes. Vulture has reached out to Trachtenberg’s representatives for confirmation of her death. In recent months, fans became concerned about Trachtenberg’s health on Instagram, saying she “looked sick.” On a post that has since been deleted, Trachtenberg responded, “explain to me how I look sick. Did you lose a calendar and not realize I’m not 14. I’m 38. How sad for you to leave such a comment.”
Trachtenberg’s career began at age 9, when she played Nona F. Mecklenberg on the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete, beginning in 1994. That led to her breakout role as Harriet in the 1996 Harriet the Spy as a child actress. “She was this very appealing, bubbly, very beautiful child star from Nickelodeon,” J. Smith Cameron later told Vulture. “And she was feeling her oats, but not in an obnoxious way.” She later became known for playing Dawn, Buffy Summers’s younger sister, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character was added late into the series, often both reviled and defended by its fans. It scored Trachtenberg her first Teen Choice Award nomination in 2001 for Choice Sidekick. As a teen and young adult, she starred in films including EuroTrip in 2004 and Ice Princess in 2005. The latter film, in particular, is beloved by a generation. In 2016, Emirati Olympic skater Zahra Lari credited Ice Princess with inspiring her to pursue the sport.
In 2008, Trachtenberg joined another iconic high-school soap, Gossip Girl, playing Georgina Sparks until 2012. Georgina garnered Trachtenberg her second Teen Choice Award nomination in 2012, for Best TV Villain. She later reprised the role on Max’s Gossip Girl reboot series in 2022. A year prior, she spoke out on Instagram Stories against Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who was accused of abuse, reposting a statement from star Sarah Michelle Gellar and adding, “I am brave enough now as a 35-year-old woman to repost this. Because this must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior. Very. Not. Appropriate.”