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Back in February of 2025, beloved actress Michelle Trachtenberg passed away unexpectedly.
The star of such popular films and television series as EuroTrip, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Gossip Girl was just 39 years old.
Trachtenberg got her start as a child star in films such as Harriet the Spy, and now, her co-star in that film, Rosie O’Donnell, is opening up about Michelle’s final days.
The actress and comedian shared emotional new details in a candid interview with Variety, revealing that addiction had taken a devastating toll on Trachtenberg before her death.
O’Donnell said she remained in contact with Trachtenberg during her final years and tried to support her as her health declined.
“In the last few years, when she was in pretty bad shape, she would call me, and we would talk,” O’Donnell said.
Concerned about what she was witnessing, O’Donnell even 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 it had been happening,” 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, and she just never showed up — sometimes at restaurants, other times at my house where we’d had someone prepare the whole meal,” she recalled.
“I would call her and go, ‘Honey, are you heading over?’ and she’d go, ‘Was that today?’ She was not in good shape.”
Looking back, O’Donnell admitted she wishes she had been able to do more for Trachtenberg.
“I tried to help her as much as I could, but she was inaccessible toward the end, and it was tragic.”
She also reflected on Trachtenberg’s remarkable talent, remembering the actress as an exceptionally gifted child performer.
“She was a real genius child who was able to memorize anything, pick up her lines, you could improvise with her, and she was connected and right there.”
O’Donnell added that Trachtenberg had once been incredibly close with her mother, Lana, and her ballerina sister before, she believes, substance abuse changed the trajectory of her life.
O’Donnell said Trachtenberg’s death was especially difficult because she never expected it to happen.
“I didn’t think that she would die.”
She ended with a sobering reminder about the dangers of addiction.
“With most people suffering from addiction, their loved ones think that they’ll survive it, but you can die from your addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it happens too often that it must be taken seriously.”
Clearly, Trachtenberg’s death still weighs heavily on O’Donnell’s mind.
And millions who have lost loved ones to addiction can relate to her feeling that she wished she could have done more.
