{"id":252244,"date":"2026-07-16T22:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/rosie-odonnell-michelle-trachtenberg-was-inaccessible-before-her-death\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T22:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:00:23","slug":"rosie-odonnell-michelle-trachtenberg-was-inaccessible-before-her-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/rosie-odonnell-michelle-trachtenberg-was-inaccessible-before-her-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosie O&#8217;Donnell: &#8216;Michelle Trachtenberg was inaccessible before her death&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"byline\">\n<p>        <time itemprop=\"datePublished\" content=\"2026-07-16\" datetime=\"1784239223\" pubdate=\"\">16 July 2026<\/time>\n    <\/p>\n<p>Ro\u0219ie O\u2019Donnell ha\u0219 claimed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/michelle-trachtenberg\/\" class=\"exposure-link \" data-linktrack=\"LinkTracker,articleExposure,michelle-trachtenberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michelle Trachtenberg<\/a> was \u201cnot in good shape\u201d prior to her untimely death. <\/p>\n<p>                            <\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption landscape\">Rosie O&#8217;Donnell says Michelle Trachteberg was struggling before death<\/p>\n<p>The comedian starred alongside Michelle in 1996 movie Harriet the Spy, and was asked during an interview with Variety if the pair had stayed in touch. <\/p>\n<p>Rosie then replied: \u201cShe was not in good shape. She got into drugs and alcohol, I believe, and then I lost touch with her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cI wish I could have done more. I tried to help her as much as I could, but she was inaccessible toward the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                      \t\t\t<!-- Dailymotion player (contact: Kutay.vardar@dailymotion.com) --><\/p>\n<p>Rosie said that Michelle \u201cnever showed up\u201d to numerous meetings the pair of them had arranged, but she would \u201c call me and we would talk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nShe added: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nCalling Michelle\u2019s passing in February 2025 a \u201ctragedy\u201d, Rosie continued: \u201cI didn\u2019t think that she would die. <\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWith most people suffering from addiction, their loved ones think that they\u2019ll survive it, but you can die from your addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it happens too often that it must be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nMichelle was just 39 years old when she was found unresponsive in a New York apartment, with her cause of death classed as \u201cundetermined\u201d by\u00a0The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.<\/p>\n<p>\nHer family opted against having an autopsy on religious grounds, with a coroner later confirming her death was the result of complications from diabetes mellitus.<\/p>\n<p>\nRosie went on to say that \u201caddiction has hit my family, too\u201d &#8211; referring to her 28-year-old daughter Chelsea, who is currently behind bars after her probation was revoked following several arrests in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>\nRosie explained: \u201cShe\u2019s been sober a year and a half and she\u2019s currently in prison, sadly, but she was born addicted to drugs and never really had a fair shake. <\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s very serious and there are millions of families in America going through the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nMichelle is arguably most famous for playing the role of Dawn Summers &#8211; the younger sister of Sarah Michelle Gellar\u2019s Buffy the Vampire Slayer &#8211; from 2000 to 2003.<\/p>\n<p>\nShe was also said to be in talks for the planned revival of the show.<\/p>\n<p>\n20th Television &#8211; which is the studio behind the upcoming Buffy reboot &#8211; had issued a statement paying tribute to Trachtenberg after her passing was announced, telling People magazine: &#8220;Michelle touched a generation of television fans throughout her career, including in her unforgettable role as the independent and strong-willed Dawn Summers in Buffy. <\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;She brought depth, heart, and authenticity to every performance and will be remembered for her remarkable talent. Our sincere condolences go out to her family and friends \u2013 she will be deeply missed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- Pagination --><\/p>\n<p><!-- playbuzz --><br \/>\n<!-- end playbuzz--><\/p>\n<p><!-- \n\n<div data-cn-project=\"femalefirst\">\n    \n<\/div>\n\n --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><br \/>\n<!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><br \/>\n    <!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/celebrity\/rosie-odonnell-michelle-trachtenberg-inaccessible-death-1447623.html?f=rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>16 July 2026 Ro\u0219ie O\u2019Donnell ha\u0219 claimed Michelle Trachtenberg was \u201cnot in good shape\u201d prior to her untimely death. Rosie O&#8217;Donnell says Michelle Trachteberg was struggling before death The comedian starred alongside Michelle in 1996 movie Harriet the Spy, and was asked during an interview with Variety if the pair had stayed in touch. Rosie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2348],"class_list":{"0":"post-252244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-rosie-o"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}