More than two months after Michelle Trachtenberg’s death at age 39, we’re starting to get clarity on what caused it. According to lab results from the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, Trachtenberg died from complications of diabetes mellitus, as reported by Deadline. Her manner of death was subsequently ruled natural, per People. (Vanity Fair has also reached out to reps for Trachtenberg and the medical examiner’s office for confirmation.)
Trachtenberg, best known for her roles in ‘90s and early 2000s projects like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, Ice Princess, and Harriet the Spy, was found dead on the morning of February 26 in her New York City apartment, a spokesperson for the NYPD previously confirmed to VF. Criminality was not suspected in her death.
The following day, ABC News reported that Trachtenberg’s cause of death would remain undetermined because her family had requested that no autopsy be conducted for religious reasons. Because no foul play was suspected, the medical examiner’s office did not overrule the family’s decision, instead limiting their scope to an external examination and lab testing.
According to the Mayo Clinic, diabetes mellitus refers to a “group of diseases that affect how the body uses blood sugar” or glucose—the brain’s central source of fuel and energy for cells in the human body.
Sources close to Trachtenberg told Us Weekly that the actress had undergone a liver transplant and suffered multiple health ailments. “She had back issues, and then bone problems and she also fell a few times,” a friend told the publication. Trachtenberg, who used a cane on a 2019 red carpet, was “thrown a lot of curveballs with her health,” a source said, “but she did her best not to let it get her down.”
The New York native’s final onscreen role was a reprisal of her villainous Georgina for two episodes of the short-lived Gossip Girl reboot on Max. In the final year of her life, Trachtenberg’s social media presence raised concerns among those who noted an apparent change in her physicality. “I’ve received several comments recently about my appearance,” she wrote in a January 2024 Instagram post. “I have never had plastic surgery I am happy and healthy. Check yourself haters.”
Former co-stars and friends, including Rosie O’Donnell, Blake Lively, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Princess Eugenie paid tribute to Trachtenberg after her death. Director Casey Tebo has said on X he’s “doing everything I can” to get a script written by Trachtenberg made, calling it “one of the best screenplays I’ve ever read.”
