Buffy, Gossip Girl star Michelle Trachtenberg dead at 39

The star, who appeared in hit shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, has been found dead at home aged 39.

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg, known for a wide range of TV and film roles including in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, has died at the age of 39.

Trachtenberg was found by her mother around 8am on Wednesday, US time, at One Columbus Place, a 51-story luxury apartment complex in Manhattan’s Central Park South neighbourhood, sources told the New York Post.

The actor recently underwent a liver transplant and died of natural causes, according to the sources.

The New York Police Department confirmed Trachtenberg was found “unconscious and unresponsive” by police and pronounced dead by emergency response workers.

Her death is not deemed suspicious and the city medical examiner will determine the cause, cops said.

Michelle Trachtenberg has died at 39 years old. Picture: by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for InStyle

Trachtenberg had posted a series of troubling photos in recent months on Instagram, where the award-winning actor has 800,000 followers, in which she appeared gaunt and frail, prompting some fans to comment about her startling weight loss or ask if she was on drugs.

Last January, Trachtenberg responded to fan concerns, saying she was “happy and healthy” and had never had plastic surgery.

Born in New York City on October 11, 1985, Trachtenberg’s first credited role came at the age of 9 on the classic 1990s Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete and Pete, in which she portrayed quirky gal-pal Nona F. Mecklenberg.

Trachtenberg at a Hollywood event in 2011. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Hollywood Domino

Trachtenberg appeared as younger sister Dawn Summers in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

She went on to star in a variety of kid-oriented movies and shows, making her film debut in 1996’s Harriet the Spy, in which she played the title character.

As an adult, she pivoted to more mature acting fare, including a three-year stint playing Dawn Summers, the sister of Buffy’s eponymous vampire-slaying protagonist, as well as the manipulative, calculating antagonist Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl, which ran for six seasons.

The final selfie she posted to Insta, a week before her death.

Another selfie posted just weeks before her death.

In 2021, Trachtenberg made bombshell allegations against Buffy creator and Avengers director Joss Whedon, then 55, claiming he was physically abusive during filming and that there was a “rule” in place prohibiting him from being alone in a room with her on set, she wrote in a cryptic Instagram post at the time.

Whedon later denied the allegations in an interview with New York Magazine.

On her birthday last October 11, Trachtenberg posted a glamour shot on her Instagram with the caption “39 and I’m feeling fiiiiiine,” which garnered more than 32,000 likes.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission