Sarah Michelle Gellar says she will ‘always love’ Michelle Trachtenberg
Trachtenberg’s death at 39 is not being treated as suspicious and police said a medical examiner will determine the cause of her death.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Sarah Michelle Gellar has paid tribute to Michelle Trachtenberg, saying she will “always love” her late co-star.
Trachtenberg, also known for Gossip Girl, was confirmed dead at the age of 39 after emergency medical services were called to One Columbus Place in New York on Wednesday morning US time, the city’s police department said.
Police said a medical examiner will determine the cause of her death but it is not being treated as suspicious.
Trachtenberg joined the fifth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer as supernatural fighter Buffy Summers’ (Gellar) sister Dawn Summers.
Gellar posted on Instagram a modified quote taken from a pivotal scene in the popular 2000s US TV show where Buffy tells her younger sister “the hardest thing in this world, is to live in it”.
Scooby-Doo star Gellar wrote: “Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you.”
She also shared images of her and Trachtenberg during filming and behind the scenes with the cast.
Other tributes came from fellow Gossip Girl stars including Blake Lively as well as other Buffy cast members including How I Met Your Mother actress Alyson Hannigan, who played the witch Willow Rosenberg, and James Marsters, who played British vampire Spike.
Buffy co-star Charisma Carpenter said seeing someone die “so young, bright, beautiful, and full of promise pass away” is “devastating”.
She added: “I extend my deepest condolences to those who knew her better than I did — those who had the pleasure of working with her, those who loved her with all their might, her family, and her partner, whom I never met. I’m so sorry for your loss.
“I would be remiss not to acknowledge the undeniable impact she has had on the lives of her fans worldwide. She will live on through her performances and her love of storytelling forever.”
Carpenter left the show to continue playing vain cheerleader Cordelia Chase on spin-off programme Angel, while Trachtenberg continued as Dawn until the series ended in 2003 after seven seasons.
Born in 1985 in New York, Trachtenberg began her acting career at the age of three, appearing in adverts before landing roles on TV.
She went on to secure a role in children’s sitcom, The Adventures Of Pete & Pete, and in 1996’s Harriet The Spy as an 11-year-old given to spying and concocting outrageous lies to embellish her journal.
She was also known for playing Penny in the 1999 spy film Inspector Gadget, Jenny in the 2004 movie EuroTrip, 2005 sports comedy Ice Princess, 2009 teen comedy 17 Again alongside Zac Efron, and most recently she reprised her role in the second series of the Gossip Girl sequel.
Lively wrote on Instagram that the world has lost a “deeply sensitive and good person in Michelle. May her work and her huge heart be remembered by those who were lucky enough to experience her fire”.
“She laughed the fullest at someone’s joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes, she was fiercely loyal to her friends and brave for those she loved, she was big and bold and distinctly herself,” the actress also said.
Trachtenberg played young socialite Georgina Sparks of Manhattan’s Upper East Side who created havoc throughout the show, blackmailing Serena van der Woodsen (Lively), among other schemes, and previously said she knew a lot of people from the Upper East Side in her 20s, who were “very similar to the Gossip Girl characters and involved in that world”.
She added on the XOXO podcast with Jessica Szohr that “some were actually more scandalous than the show portrayed”.
Emma Caulfield, who starred as former demon Anya Jenkins in Buffy, said the cast had “lost a little sister” in a post shared to her Instagram story, while Hannigan said she “brought a loving energy to the set” of the supernatural drama.
Marsters said Trachtenberg was “a beautiful soul”, who was “fiercely intelligent, howlingly funny, and a very talented person” and shared a selfie of the two together on Instagram.
Clarissa Explains It All star Melissa Joan Hart called her co-star “talented and sweet”, and said she was “heartbroken”.
Josh Safran, a writer and producer on Gossip Girl, said it was an “an honour and joy to write for Michelle for so many years” on X, formerly Twitter.
A representative for Trachtenberg said: “It is with great sadness to confirm that Michelle has passed away. The family requests privacy for their loss. There are no further details at this time.”
