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The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner has deemed Michelle Trachtenberg‘s cause of death undetermined after she was found dead in her New York City apartment on Wednesday. Her family has declined to have an autopsy performed, per Variety, which will indefinitely mark her cause of death as undetermined.
Trachtenberg was pronounced dead after emergency medical services arrived in response to a 911 call at her building. The actress was found “unconscious and unresponsive” inside her apartment. Authorities said at the time that they did not believe her death was suspicious. She was 39 years old.
Scores of Trachtenberg’s peers and past co-stars have shared tributes following news of her death. “She had fire, she had spark, she had truth, and she had Harriet’s conviction, like her sense of self,” Bronwen Hughes, who directed Harriet the Spy, told The Hollywood Reporter. “No one else came in the room like that. So she had that acting gene that you can’t really teach. It’s innate, which is not something you find very often.” Rosie O’Donnell, who played a nanny and mentor to Trachtenberg’s character in the film, told Us Weekly: “I loved her very much. She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped.”
Some of Trachtenberg recent social media posts had sparked concerns among fans about her health, which she addressed in January 2024. “I’ve received several comments recently about my appearance,” she wrote onInstagram. “I have never had plastic surgery I am happy and healthy.”
Trachtenberg played notable roles in Gossip Girl, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Inspector Gadget, and more. “This is the first day I met Michelle,” Blake Lively captioned a photo of herself with the actress on the set of Gossip Girl. “She was electricity. You knew when she entered a room because the vibration changed. Everything she did, she did 200%.”
