Stars React to Michelle Trachtenberg’s Death at Age 39: Rosie O’Donnell, Melissa Gilbert and More

Hollywood is mourning the loss of actress Michelle Trachtenberg.

The Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum was found unconscious inside of her Midtown West apartment in New York City, police sources confirmed to Us Weekly on Wednesday, February 26. She was 39 years old.

“It is with great sadness to confirm that Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away,” the actress’ rep told Us Weekly in a statement. “The family requests privacy for their loss. There are no further details at this time.”

While the cause of her death is not yet apparent, the incident is not believed to be suspicious. (The New York Post was first to report the news.)

The news comes one year after the actress responded to users’ comments questioning her appearance in recent social media posts. “Explain to me how I look sick,” she wrote in response to one follower in January 2024. “Did you lose a calendar and not realize I’m not 14. I’m 38. How sad for you to leave such a comment.”

In a separate Instagram post that month, Trachtenberg wrote, “I’ve received several comments recently about my appearance. I have never had plastic surgery I am happy and healthy. Check yourself haters.”

Trachtenberg first rose to fame as a child star in the 1996 movie Harriet the Spy. Her Hollywood career continued when she joined Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Sarah Michelle Gellar’s sister, Dawn. She also became a fan-favorite guest star on Gossip Girl as Georgina Sparks.

Keep reading to see how Hollywood stars are paying tribute to and remembering Trachtenberg:

Rosie O’Donnell

“Heartbreaking,” she said in a statement to Us when honoring her Harriet the Spy costar. “I loved her very much. She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped.”

Melissa Gilbert

“Oh Michy…and we lived so close to one another,” the actress wrote via Instagram when paying tribute to her costar from the 1996 film A Holiday for Love. “My heart aches for your family and all those who loved you so… @michelletrachtenberg #ripsweetgirl.”

Ed Westwick

“So sad to hear of the passing of @MichelleTrachtenberg,” the Gossip Girl actor wrote via his Instagram Story alongside a photo of his costar. “Sending prayers.” 

David Boreanaz 

“So very sad… horrible news,” the Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor wrote via his Instagram Story. “R.I.P. and prayers to her and her family.”

Kim Cattrall

“Rest in peace sweet Michelle 💔,” the actress wrote via Instagram with a photo from their experience filming the 2005 Disney movie, Ice Princess.

Melissa Joan Hart

“I’m heartbroken to hear of the passing of  @michelletrachtenberg!!” the actress wrote via Instagram. “So young, so talented and so sweet! Here is a fun scene from when she was on #ClarissaExplainsItAll. I think this was about 1992 and the episode was an idea I had about babysitting a total nightmare. But Michelle was nothing like her character and even this young, we got along wonderfully.  #gonetoosoon #RIP #GodBlesstheFunnyPeople.” 

James Marsters

“My heart is heavy today. We have lost a beautiful soul,” the Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor wrote via Instagram. “Michelle was fiercely intelligent, howlingly funny, and a very talented person. She died much too young, and leaves behind scores of people who knew and loved her. My heart goes out to her family who are good people, and are suffering the greatest loss anyone could bear. I hope everyone can give them space to heal in this most difficult time. Godspeed Michelle. You are missed.” 

Kenan Thompson

“Our first Nick movie star has departed us!!” the Saturday Night Live star wrote via Instagram with a throwback clip from the 1999 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. “She was my friend and now she rests!! 🙏🏾 Check on your people!!! ❤️

Chace Crawford

“Michelle was one of a kind,” the Gossip Girl star, who played Nate Archibald, wrote via Instagram. “I remember her coming on set for the first time and just absolutely owning it. She was a force of nature and just so so unapologetically funny and magnetic.. remembering those years with a big smile. Just a terrible loss. Love you ❤️.”

Kimberly J. Brown

The Halloweentown alum expressed her sadness over Trachtenberg’s death by sharing a throwback photo of the actress with a broken heart emoji.

Iris Apatow

“I watched her through every stage of my life,” the actress wrote via her Instagram Story. “She brought me a lot of joy when things were hard — I’m so heartbroken. Rest in peace.” 

Shawn Ashmore 

“Incredibly sad to hear about Michelle’s passing,” The Rookie star wrote via Instagram about his ex-girlfriend. “She was an incredible person and I will always remember the years we spent together fondly. She was loving, quirky and would never pass up a Law and Order SVU marathon:) My condolences to her mother Lana and sister Irene! This is an incredible loss!” 

Chris Colfer

“Michelle was the absolute sweetest and one of the most supportive people I knew,” the Glee star wrote via Instagram. “I’m so lucky I got to be her friend. 💔” 

Matt McGorry

“She had a fierceness but also a deep caring and softness with those she trusted,” the How to Get Away With Murder actor wrote via Instagram about his friend. “She always stood up for her friends, was incredibly talented and had the darkest sense of humor. She had the spirit of a true New Yorker. Michelle and I were really close but lost touch for quite a while. I was always sure that we’d cross paths again and I was looking forward to meeting as the people we’d grown to become. You will be missed by so many. Love you, Michelle. 💜”

Gregory Arlt

“She was, indeed, but a tween when my makeup brushes first touched her face. It was the beginning of relationship laced with creativity, endless laugh, and the quest for the perfect pale foundation (we figured that last one out!),” the celebrity makeup artist shared via Instagram when discussing his friend and client, Trachtenberg. “ Oh, Michelle… I cannot imagine a world — my world — without your acerbic wit, fierce intellect, doe-eyed beauty and great talent.”

He continued, “Please save a seat at the makeup counter for me, my friend. @michelletrachtenberg 🤍.”

Emma Caulfield

“I’m so sorry your bright light died so young,” the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star wrote via her Instagram Story. “Our Buffy family lost a little sister today…Rest in peace lovely Mist Mist. You were loved.” 

J. August Richards

“Just heard about the passing of Michelle Trachtenberg… My heart goes out to her family, friends and the many people who loved her,” the Angel star wrote via X. “39 is far too young… Rest In Peace, dear one…” 

Beanie Feldstein

“I’m so beyond heartbroken,” the actress wrote via her Instagram Story with three broken heart emojis. “Her Harriet raised all of us little girls wanted to BE something.” 

Alyson Hannigan

“I am deeply saddened by the news of Michelle’s passing,” the actress wrote via Instagram. “She brought a loving energy to the set of Buffy. My thoughts are with Michelle’s family and friends.” 

Kevin Zegers

“What a loss,” the Gossip Girl alum wrote via Instagram. “Michelle was tough and a force. Just a kid, so sad.” 

Madeline Zima

“I’m very sad to hear about the passing of @MichelleTrachtenberg,” the Twin Peaks actress wrote via her Instagram Story. “I knew her when we were young and working in New York. Sending love to her family.”

Clare Kramer

“Michelle and I worked very closely during my time on Buffy,” the actress, who played Glory on Buffy the Vampire Slayer told Us in a statement. “It was my first television series, and even though I was 10 years her senior, she taught me so much about filming and set life. She was an exceptional actress and a consummate professional. I was also really touched that at such a young age, she had such generosity — not only in her art, but also in her personal life. I’m keeping her mom, family and those who loved her close to my heart on this sad day. She will be missed.”

“Peace out little one.✌️🧿⚡️💔 ,” Kramer also wrote via Instagram. “A talented & kind soul gone way too soon!💧You’re free to fly now… 🕊️.”

Danny Tamberelli

Tamberelli, who starred with Trachtenberg on Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete, paid tribute to his late costar via Instagram. “We grew up learning how to make people laugh together,” he wrote. “More importantly, we learned to make each other laugh and pull pranks on everyone. We were doing improv when it was still called playing pretend to get laughs. She was a master of the clothespin game, tagging any and everyone she could. She once got upset when I got my 1st bass on set because I wouldn’t hang out during lunch. She hid the cable so I couldn’t play through the amp. I got the message. She was a bright light, firecracker and caring person who spent a lot of time and effort advocating for people who needed a louder voice. Michelle was someone to look up to in this business and to the general world at large. She will be missed. All my love, sympathy and compassion to Lana, Irene and the rest of her family and friends.

Kate Beckinsale

“What a terrible shock and loss, my God,” Beckinsale wrote via her Instagram Story alongside a snap of her and Trachtenberg out on the town. “My heart aches for your mama. Fly safe little bird.”

Blake Lively

Lively, who starred alongside Trachtenberg on Gossip Girl, honored her former colleague via Instagram. “This is the first day I met Michelle. She was electricity. You knew when she entered a room because the vibration changed,” the It Ends With Us actress wrote alongside a photo of the duo on set of The CW series. “Everything she did, she did 200%. She laughed the fullest at someone’s joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes, she was fiercely loyal to her friends and brave for those she loved, she was big and bold and distinctly herself.”

Lively continued, “You take for granted that you get the chance to see an old friend. To paraphrase, the real tragedies in life are the ones that blindside you on an idle Tuesday. Hold those you love and have loved dear. The world lost a deeply sensitive and good person in Michelle. May her work and her huge heart be remembered by those who were lucky enough to experience her fire.”

Zane Carney

Trachtenberg’s childhood boyfriend, also a former kid actor, mourned Trachtenberg in a statement shared via Instagram. “I just heard the news about Michelle and I’m in shock,” he wrote, noting that he met the late actress when they starred together on a ’90s sitcom called Dave’s World. “I was so nervous to meet her, and the second she stepped on set my feelings for her grew tenfold…also, even though my Mom somehow pulled out the most classic of Mom moves – showing literal baby photos of me to Michelle’s mother (of course Michelle walked up WHILE THIS HUMILIATION WAS OCCURRING) – she and I developed a truly deep and special connection. Within a few weeks, we were boyfriend and girlfriend (I know, I still can’t believe it either).”

He went on to describe Trachtenberg as his “first love,” adding, “For her birthday a few months later, my Dad helped me record a version of the Beatles’ ‘Michelle’ which we played over the loudspeakers at her birthday party at The Oakwoods. She ran out of the party half-embarrassed-half-smitten (as kids do) but later revealed how much that meant to her.”

Carney noted that he’d last spoken to her in late 2024, writing, “There’s no other way to say it other than that she was my first love (and I may have been hers, as well…) I loved her brain, her wit, her seemingly unlimited energy, her effortless beauty, her loyalty and how every room she entered became precisely *infinity percent* more fun, just because she was in it. So many others have much more to say, but I just wanted to share how much I adored Michelle and how sad I am to know that I won’t be able to laugh or reminisce with her anymore. She was such a unique treasure of a soul and she will be unbelievably missed by the Carney/Heil household. We love you forever Michelle and our hearts go out to the entire Trachtenberg family ❤️.”