Inside Michelle Trachtenberg’s tragic final years: Buffy actress, who was a child star and anti-drugs and alcohol campaigner, was ‘struggling’ after liver transplant and links to Hollywood abusers

With a TV career that started at the age of three and huge sitcom hits such as Gossip Girl and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Michelle Trachtenberg should have been on a path to the same Hollywood stardom many of her co-stars have since enjoyed. 

Yet behind the scenes, friends say that Trachtenberg was ‘struggling’ in the years before her life was tragically cut short this week aged just 39, with police sources revealing the star died of natural causes and may have suffered complications following a liver transplant.

Rumours quickly began to swirl about Trachtenberg having an alcohol problem, but  for years, the actress had been vocal about her anti drink and drug stance, saying that she’d been taught well by her ‘protective’ mother to avoid the temptations that come with fame. 

And yet, somewhere along the line it appears that Michelle was derailed by both mental and physical battles, with friends describing how she’d been ‘really down emotionally’, as well as the physical toll a major procedure like an organ transplant takes. 

Although she was rumoured to be in talks to appear in a Buffy reunion, her career had floundered too with no significant acting work to her name in the last 10 years and her most recent work being hosting a true crime series, Meet, Marry, Murder.

In 2022, she made a startling claim – supporting allegations from Buffy co-star Charisma Carpenter that director Joss Whedon exhibited ‘hostile and toxic’ behavior on set and that there was a ‘rule’ in place on set prohibiting him from being alone with her.

Trachtenberg said that Whedon was ‘not appropriate’ in his behaviour but did not elaborate further. Whedon has denied the allegations.

Some clues to her mental state lie in tributes from friends and colleagues who have referred to her struggles, with Amanda de Cadenet suggesting that the actress had spent her last months in and out of hospital – and even knew her time was running out. 

Paying tribute in a since-amended post, she wrote on Instagram: ‘I will not share the details of our conversations over the last 6 months. But you knew that death was a high possibility.’

Meanwhile, her Harriet the Spy co-star Rosie O’Donnell commented: ‘I loved her very much. She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped.’

The actress ‘told friends she was struggling’ and was ‘really down emotionally’ in the year prior to her death, a source told People.

‘She was really, really sick and open with those in her circle about how much she wasstruggling,’ the insider added, stating she looked ‘pale, gaunt’ and ‘very thin.’

In the wake of her death, rumours have inevitably started to swirl that the actress had a problem with alcohol, but this remains unconfirmed and by her own account, she was very much against substance abuse. 

As a child, Trachtenberg joined forces with then-US President Bill Clinton to help him launch The Coalition for a Drug-Free America political initiative.

She also advocated for Recording Artists, Athletes, and Actors Against Drunk Driving (RADD) and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE).

During an interview with Complex magazine in 2012 she was asked how she avoided the pitfalls of being a child star – so many of whom have publicly battled with addiction. 

She explained: ‘My mom was protective, but she just said, “It’s your choice—you ruin your career or don’t.” If you realize how lucky you are to be sitting in the position you are, then you just don’t drink, don’t do the cocaine.

‘”The cocaine!” I call it “the weed.” I’m drug dumb. I don’t know s**t about drugs. I just don’t do that because I would never do anything to – God forbid – ruin my career. I value my career.’

Asked how she coped being around drugs and alcohol in Hollywood, she explained: ‘I’ve been in situations where I’ve been petrified of putting my purse down because I was traveling the next day and I knew that there was stuff on the counter. I’m just overly paranoid.’

Her stance was refreshing for a former child star. 

Trachtenberg appeared to have avoided the so-called ‘child curse’, which often sees young actors fall into a pattern of substance abuse issues, legal problems, and court appearances.

However, she was not immune from the pitfalls of fame, having spoken out when rumours of ‘cruelty’ emerged against Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. 

She played Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and was 15 when she landed the part. 

Yet 18 years after the series ended fans learned of an allegedly toxic atmosphere on set. 

The allegations came about when Charisma Carpenter (who played Cordelia in Buffy) claimed on X/Twitter in 2021 that Whedon ‘abused his power on a number of occasions’ and that his behaviour intensified her ‘performance anxiety’ and worked to ‘disempower me and alienate me from my peers’. 

She said his creating a ‘toxic’ and ‘hostile’ work environment ‘triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer.’

The claim triggered an outpouring of similar allegations from other cast members, with Trachtenberg then claiming there was an onset ‘rule’ by which Whedon was not allowed to be alone in a room with her. 

Backing her castmates, Gellar issued a statement via Instagram. She wrote: ‘While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon.’ 

This prompted Trachtenberg to state: ‘Thank you @sarahmgellar for saying this. 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. 

‘So now. People know. What Joss. Did. The last. Comment I will make on this. Was. There was a rule. Saying. He’s not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again. [sic]’

True to her word, she did not elaborate on her remarks. 

Trachtenberg also had a lengthy stint working on Nickelodeon in her childhood, notably on the Nineties series The Adventures of Pete & Pete.

Rumours have swirled of inappropriate behavior or failed safeguarding of famous cast members of Nickelodeon shows.

Nickelodeon also employed or worked with five child molesters as well as two others accused of pedophilia, court records show. 

A 2024 HBO documentary, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, also investigated Dan Schneider, a controversial producer of several successful kids shows on Nickelodeon.

Quiet on Set did not accuse Schneider of any sexual misconduct with the children on set, but aired allegations of bullying, sexism and racism which he has denied.

Trachtenberg did not comment on any of the allegations. 

Any objective observer must have assumed that the sky was the limit for Trachtenberg, however, after the Gossip Girl series wrapped in December 2012, her career appeared to hit a slump from which she never truly recovered.

As co-stars, like Lively, Ed Westwick and Penn Badgley, moved on to bigger and better things, starring in blockbuster movies and becoming A-list Hollywood superstars, Trachtenberg’s credits were limited to occasional cameos on TV series, like the action-drama NCIS in 2013 and the supernatural-series Sleepy Hollow in 2015.

When those roles seemingly dried up, Trachtenberg started taking even more piece-meal parts, appearing as a guest judge on the teen cooking show, Chopped Junior, in 2016.

For her final TV role, Trachtenberg reprised her role of manipulative young socialite Georgina Sparks in the HBO Max Gossip Girl reboot. 

She was also said to be working on several projects behind the camera and was a member of the Writers Guild of America.

A restaurant worker revealed to DailyMail.com that Trachtenberg was so sick during her final outing that she could barely walk down a flight of restaurant stairs.

The star’s gaunt appearance stunned staff at Sartiano’s restaurant in SoHo, New York.

It was Thursday February 2, less than a week before the tragic Gossip Girl star was found dead by her mother in her Manhattan apartment.

‘She looked really unwell, just like very sickly,’ a worker said on Wednesday. ‘She was thin, like tiny, she couldn’t walk down the stairs. She was not in a great mood, it wasn’t the best impression.’

‘It’s spooky because she was in here just last week on Thursday night,’ the worker added.

‘We only just found out about (her death) a few hours ago and it’s really sad. She was just with one other person, a woman who was really nice.’

In recent years fans began to express concern for the star. 

In January 2024, she slammed speculation that she was in poor health after some of her followers expressed worry over her seemingly ‘thinning hair’ and ‘yellow eyes.’

In response to an Instagram comment saying that she looked ‘sick’ and asking if she was okay, the Gossip Girl alum replied: ‘Fun fact. This is my face. Not malnutrition no problems. Why do you have [to] hate? Get a calendar.’

While addressing another similar comment, at the time, she reminded her fans that she was 38 not 14 anymore, before inquiring in what way she looked unwell.

‘How sad for you to leave such a comment,’ she concluded.

Her final Instagram post, uploaded seven days ago, was a throwback picture of her attending the Killing Kennedy premiere at the Saban Theatre on November 4, 2013 in Beverly Hills.

‘I wanted to look like naughty #tinkerbelI #throwback,’ she captioned the picture, which showed her posing on the red carpet.

Days prior, she shared another older picture and joke about not letting the ‘Sunday scaries’ get to her.

She was clearly in a nostalgic mood as she also recently shared a snap, taken in 2011 at the School of American Ballet Winter Ball, and a cheeky suggestion for those without Valentine’s Day plans to watch her true crime docuseries, Meet, Marry, Murder.

Additionally, she shared a sweet tribute to her boyfriend, talent agent Jay Cohen, who she described as ‘the man who sits still long enough for’ her to ‘paint his face.’

The post included a sweet snap of them from Halloween dressed as Dr. Jekyll and his alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde.

There has not yet been an official declaration of the cause of Trachtenberg’s death. 

While alcoholism is the number one cause of liver disease, viruses like Epstein-Barr and hepatitis may also cause inflammation of the liver, which damages the organ over time.