Tributes are flooding in for Michelle Trachtenberg.
The actress, known for her memorable roles in Harriet the Spy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was discovered dead in her New York City apartment, according to police statements on Wednesday. She was 39.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, 47, shared a touching tribute on Instagram featuring photos from their time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with the caption, “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.”
According to People, Trachtenberg joined Buffy in its fifth season playing Dawn Summers, Buffy’s mystical “key” sister, and stayed with the show until its finale in 2003.
Melissa Joan Hart expressed her grief over Trachtenberg’s death on Instagram alongside a clip from Clarissa Explains it All.
“I’m heartbroken to hear of the passing of @michelletrachtenberg!! So young, so talented and so sweet!” wrote Hart, 48. “I think this was about 1992 and the episode was an idea I had about babysitting a total nightmare. But Michelle was nothing like her character and even this young, we got along wonderfully.”
Blake Lively posted an emotional Instagram Story Wednesday remembering the first time she met Trachtenberg, describing her as “electricity,” and someone whose presence immediately changed the energy of any room.
“Everything she did, she did 200%,” wrote Lively, 37. “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.
“Hold those you love and have loved dear,” she continued. “The world 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.”
Chase Crawford, 39, who starred alongside Trachtenberg on Gossip Girl, posted a series of photos on Instagram, writing, “Michelle was one of a kind. I remember her coming on set for the first time and just absolutely owning it. She was a force of nature and just so so unapologetically funny and magnetic.. remembering those years with a big smile. Just a terrible loss. Love you.”
Kim Cattrall, who appeared with Trachtenberg in Disney’s Ice Princess in 2005, posted on X, “This is Heartbreaking. So talented, much too young. RIP Sweet Beauty. xo.”
Rosie O’Donnell, who starred with Trachtenberg in Nickelodeon’s Harriet the Spy, sent a statement to Us Weekly, calling her death “heartbreaking.”
“I loved her very much,” O’Donnell, 62, told the magazine. “She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped.”
According to an ABC report, Trachtenberg was found in her apartment by her mother. Sources told the outlet she had recently undergone a liver transplant procedure.
A representative for the New York City Police Department confirmed to Complex that “criminality is not suspected,” and that an official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner’s office. The investigation remains ongoing.
