Rosie O’Donnell says Michelle Trachtenberg would skip their plans before her death: ‘She was in pretty bad shape’
Rosie O’Donnell says Michelle Trachtenberg would skip their plans before her death: ‘She was in pretty bad shape’
Shania RussellThu, July 16, 2026 at 10:12 PM UTC
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Michelle Trachtenberg and Rosie O’Donnell in ‘Harriet The Spy’Credit: Paramount/Kobal/ShutterstockKey Points -
Rosie O’Donnell says she began to lose touch with her late ‘Harriet the Spy’ costar Michelle Trachtenberg prior to her 2025 death.
“She got into drugs and alcohol, I believe,” O’Donnell said in a recent interview.
She added, “I wish I could have done more. I tried to help her as much as I could.”
Rosie O’Donnell is shedding new light on her relationship to Michelle Trachtenberg who died at 39 in February 2025.
O’Donnell, who starred alongside the former child star in Harriet the Spy recently looked back on the film during a chat with Variety, in which she also recounted her attempts to stay in touch with Trachtenberg in the years leading up to her death.
“It was a tragedy. She was a real genius child who was able to memorize anything, pick up her lines, you could improvise with her, and she was connected and right there,” O’Donnell recalled. “She was so close to her mother, Lana, and her sister, who’s a ballerina. They were a very loving family, and then, you know, she got into drugs and alcohol, I believe, and then I lost touch with her.”
Trachtenberg was found unconscious and unresponsive in her New York City apartment on Feb. 26. In April, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed in a statement to Entertainment Weekly that her cause of death was complications from diabetes mellitus. The manner was determined to be natural. The update came weeks after the ME confirmed that Trachtenberg’s had family objected to an autopsy being performed, leading her initial cause and manner of her death to be ruled “undetermined.”
Rosie O’Donnell and Michelle Trachtenberg in 1996Credit: Evan Agostini/Liaison/Getty
Reflecting on her former costar’s final years, O’Donnell said that Trachtenberg was “in pretty bad shape.”
She recalled, “We were supposed to see each other three or four times, and she just never showed up — sometimes at restaurants, other times at my house where we’d had someone prepare the whole meal. I would call her and go, ‘Honey, are you heading over?’ and she’d go, ‘Was that today?’”
The A League of Their Own alum said that despite Trachtenberg’s struggles, she expected her to make it through.
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“I didn’t think that she would die,” O’Donnell said. “With most people suffering from addiction, their loved ones think that they’ll survive it, but you can die from your addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it happens too often that it must be taken seriously.”
She added of Trachtenberg, “I wish I could have done more. I tried to help her as much as I could, but she was inaccessible toward the end, and it was tragic.”
Michelle Trachtenberg in 2023Credit: Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty
Pointing to her own family’s experience with substance abuse, O’Donnell noted, “It’s horrible and addiction has hit my family, too. I have a daughter who’s addicted. She’s been sober a year and a half and she’s currently in prison, sadly, but she was born addicted to drugs and never really had a fair shake. It’s very serious and there are millions of families in America going through the same thing.”
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O’Donnell, 64, played the nanny and confidant to Trachtenberg’s clever kid detective in Harriet the Spy, which hit theaters in 1996 and marked Trachtenberg’s first major film role. Until then, the young actress had been known for her work on TV’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete and All My Children.
After Harriet, Trachtenberg went on to play notable roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as little sister Dawn Summers, and on Gossip Girl, as chaos agent Georgina Sparks.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
