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In February 2025, beloved actress Michelle Trachtenberg passed away unexpectedly.
The star of such popular films and TV series as Eurotrip, Buffy the Vampire Slayerand gossip girl He was only 39 years old.
Trachtenberg got her start as a child star in films such as Harriet the spyNow, her co-star, Rosie O’Donnell, is speaking out about Michelle’s final days.
The actress and comedian shared new emotional details in a candid interview with diverseHe revealed that addiction had a devastating effect on Trachtenberg before her death.
O’Donnell said she kept in touch with Trachtenberg during her final years and tried to support her as her health declined.
“The last few years, when she was really bad, she would call me and we would talk,” O’Donnell said.
Concerned about what she was witnessing, O’Donnell reached out to Trachtenberg’s mother for answers.
“I also called her mother to find out what was going on, and her mother told me what was happening and how long ago it happened,” she said.
According to O’Donnell, the two repeatedly made plans to spend time together, but those visits never came to fruition.
“We were supposed to see each other three or four times, but she never showed up — sometimes at restaurants, other times at my house where we had someone prepare the entire meal,” she recalls.
“I would call her and say, ‘Honey, are you headed here?’ And she said, ‘Was that day?’ She wasn’t feeling well.”
Looking back, O’Donnell admitted she wished she had been able to do more for Trachtenberg.
“I tried to help her as much as I could, but she was ultimately unreachable, and it was tragic.”
It also reflected Trachtenberg’s remarkable talent, and the actress is remembered as an exceptionally gifted child actress.
“She was a real genius kid. She could memorize anything, pick out her lines, you could improvise with her, and she was totally into it.”
O’Donnell added that Trachtenberg was once incredibly close to her mother, Lana, and her ballerina sister, before drug use was believed to have changed the course of her life.
O’Donnell said Trachtenberg’s death was particularly difficult because she never saw it coming.
“I didn’t think she was going to die.”
It ended with a sobering reminder of the dangers of addiction.
“With most people suffering from addiction, their loved ones think they will survive it, but you could die from your addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it happens so often that it has to be taken seriously.”
Trachtenberg’s death clearly still weighs heavily on O’Donnell’s mind.
And the millions who have lost loved ones to addiction can sense that she wishes she could have done more.
