Michelle Trachtenberg, best known for her roles in Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was found deceased in her Manhattan apartment on February 26th shortly after 8 am.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found her unconscious and unresponsive, according to an NYPD statement. She was pronounced dead at the scene. No foul play was suspected, and the New York Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death, police said.
Trachtenberg had recently undergone a liver transplant and could have been experiencing some complications. While not confirmed, fans think it is a likely cause.
“The family requests privacy for their loss,” Trachtenberg’s representative, Gary Mantoosh, said in a statement Wednesday.
Trachtenberg was born on October 11th, 1985, in Manhattan, New York. From the age of 3, she excelled as a child actor in shows like ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete’ as Nona and ‘Harriet the Spy’ as Harriet.
When she grew up, she became more well-known for her role as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl and Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has been recognized from playing Casey Carlyle in Ice Princess.
It is unclear what she was working on at the time of her death, but Trachtenberg was active on social media. In the past week, she posted photos from her previous red carpets and reflected on the fashion.
“A memory, a magical night in #newyork. I remember feeling like Cinderella,” she wrote on one post roughly a week ago. “Wishing everyone an ethereal weekend.”
