Gossip Girl actress Michelle Trachtenberg’s cause of death has been revealed – find out more below.
Trachtenberg died on February 26 at the age of 39. At the time, no cause of death was revealed – her family had declined an autopsy due to religious reasons. However, a toxicology test was performed on the late actor. Medical examiners did not overrule the family’s decision against the autopsy as they had ruled out foul play.
Now, a medical examiner has confirmed her cause of death. Per ABC News, the actor died a natural death stemming from diabetes complications. It was previously speculated that her death was due to complications from a rejected liver transplant.
Besides Gossip Girl, Trachtenberg was also best known for her roles in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, EuroTrip and Ice Princess.
Trachtenberg gained her major breakthrough as a teenager as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy in the cult WB series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She joined in season five in 2000 and remained on the show until its conclusion with season seven in 2003, with the role earning her a Teen Choice Award nomination in 2001.
Michelle Trachtenberg in Longboat Key, Florida on April 21, 2007. (Photo by J. Meric/WireImage for Manning, Selvage and Lee)
She found another wave of adoration later in the 2010s when she portrayed Georgina Sparks on The CW’s teen drama Gossip Girl. Her character was a former friend of Blake Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen and a scheming Manhattan socialite who would routinely find herself clashing with Serena and Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf.
Her early TV credits included Nickelodeon’s The Adventures Of Pete & Pete and the lead role in the 1996 film Harriet The Spy, the adaptation of the beloved coming-of-age comedy novel.
She went on to star in projects such as 2004’s acclaimed coming-of-age teen drama film Mysterious Skin alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the raunchy sex comedy EuroTrip that same year, the 2005 Disney film Ice Princess and the 2009 teen fantasy 17 Again, alongside Zac Efron and the late Matthew Perry.
In more recent years, she made appearances on major TV series including House, NCIS: Los Angeles and Weeds. She also made a notable appearance in the music video for Fall Out Boy’s ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’ in 2006 and revived her role as Georgina Sparks in the 2022 reboot of Gossip Girl.
Rosie O’Donnell and Michelle Trachtenberg at the ‘Harriet The Spy’ premiere in 1996. CREDIT: Evan Agostini/Liaison via Getty Images
Following the news of Trachtenberg’s death, Rosie O’Donnell paid tribute to her late Harriet The Spy co-star: “I loved her very much. She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped”.
Trachtenberg’s Buffy co-star James Marsters also paid tribute: “My heart is heavy today. We have lost a beautiful soul. 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”.
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