A beloved celebrity’s passing is a hard pill to swallow, especially when that celebrity has been in the public eye since they were a kid, and even more so when that death comes far too soon. At just 39 years old, Michelle Trachtenberg, best known for starring in pop culture phenomena like Harriet the Spy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Gossip Girl, passed away in her New York City apartment on Feb. 26, 2025. Although less active in recent years — her last acting credit was a two-episode stint in the Gossip Girl revival in 2022 — Trachtenberg’s time on screen goes all the way back to 1991, when she appeared in Law & Order at just six years old. She pocketed several major TV roles as a kid, including a stint on All My Children in 1994, and on the Nickelodeon sitcom The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 to 1996. Trachtenberg’s broke into the feature film sphere with the beloved classic Harriet the Spy in 1996, which set her up for a string of bigger roles, including her three-year run as the character Dawn in the cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Trachtenberg is perhaps best recognized for starring in films such as EuroTrip, Ice Princess, and 17 Again, but many will always remember her as the havoc-wreaking young socialite Georgina Sparks in the CW original series Gossip Girl. It feels nearly unfathomable to speak about Trachtenberg in the past tense, and it goes without saying that there are questions as to her untimely passing. Do we know Michelle Trachtenberg’s cause of death? EMS workers, who showed up at Trachtenberg’s NYC apartment shortly after 8am in response to a 911 call, have not ruled Trachtenberg’s death as suspicious. She was pronounced dead at the scene and “criminality [was] not suspected,” according to NYPD, as first reported by the New York Post. Trachtenberg was found by her mother, Lana Trachtenberg. An official cause of death has not been announced at the time of writing; however, it has been reported that Trachtenberg recently underwent a liver transplant and that she died of natural causes. Trachtenberg’s frail appearance had become a topic of concern online in recent years. In early 2024, the actress pushed back against claims she looked sick and malnourished. “Explain to me how I look sick,” she said in one post where the whites of her eyes were pointed out as looking yellow. “Did you lose a calendar and not realize I’m not 14. I’m 38. How sad for you to leave such a comment,” she responded. “Fun fact. This is my face,” she said in a follow-up post, which made headlines at the time. “Not malnutrition no problems. Why do you have you hate? Get a calendar.” The post effectively tamed the public chatter, but a perusal through her social media will show a steady flow of cautious concern thereafter. Trachtenberg’s appearance had become the go-to topic of conversation, but the public scrutiny never saw the actress buckle under the weight. As a child star, public scrutiny and cruelty from strangers had become reoccurring themes in her life, with Trachtenberg’s opening up in 2020 Instagram post that she was physically bullied and even thrown down stairs and slammed into lockers as a kid. “I still have scars,” she said at the time. The bravery to push past struggle became a recurring theme in Trachtenberg’s on- and off-screen life, from toxic work environments on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to characters like Casey Carlyle in her movie Ice Princess, who pushes through hardship and comes out the other side braver. In fact, I’m reminded of a line told to Trachtenberg’s Buffy character, Dawn, in the final moments of the show’s season 5 finale, where Dawn is forced to confront the harsh reality of living a life without her sister. “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it,” Buffy tells a sobbing Dawn. “Be brave. Live.” You lived a hell of a life, Michelle, and you showed bravery through it all. May you rest in eternal peace. Our hearts go out to her friends and family, and to all those she touched with her art.