Rosie O’Donnell is sharing new details about Michelle Trachtenberg’s struggles in the years leading up to her death, saying the actress battled addiction and became increasingly difficult to reach despite repeated efforts to help. Given that Trachtenberg’s family declined an autopsy for religious reasons and has largely remained private about her health, O’Donnell’s decision to publicly discuss her alleged addiction raises difficult questions about privacy, but here we are.
Speaking to Variety, O’Donnell reflected on the heartbreaking decline of her Harriet the Spy co-star, who died in February 2025 at the age of 39. “In the last few years, when she was in pretty bad shape, she would call me, and we would talk,” O’Donnell said.
“I 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.” The actress said she repeatedly made plans with Trachtenberg, but the meetings never happened.
© Getty Images“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,” O’Donnell recalled.
“I would call her and go, ‘Honey, are you heading over?’ and she’d go, ‘Was that today?’ She was not in good shape.” O’Donnell admitted she still wishes she 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,” she said.
© GettyTrachtenberg’s death shocked fans around the world after she was found unresponsive in her New York City apartment in February 2025. In April, the New York City Medical Examiner determined she died from complications of diabetes mellitus, ruling her death natural.
The findings came after her family declined an autopsy for religious reasons, though toxicology testing helped determine the cause of death.
It was also reported that the actress had undergone a liver transplant in the months before she died, although it has never been confirmed whether the procedure was connected to her diabetes.
Looking back on working together, O’Donnell remembered Trachtenberg as an exceptionally gifted young performer. “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,” she said.
She also spoke warmly about Trachtenberg’s family, describing her as being especially close with her mother, Lana, and her ballerina sister.
“She was so close to her mother, Lana, and her sister, who’s a ballerina,” O’Donnell said. “They were a very loving family.”
© GettyO’Donnell believes addiction ultimately changed the course of Trachtenberg’s life. “She got into drugs and alcohol, I believe,” she said, adding that she gradually “lost touch with her.”
The former talk show host also admitted she never expected Trachtenberg’s struggles to end so tragically. “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.”
© GETTYIn 2010, Trachtenberg opened up about drugs and alcohol use, telling Complex, “My mom was protective, but she just said, ‘It’s your choice—you ruin your career or don’t.” “If you realize how lucky you are to be sitting in the position you are, then you just don’t drink, don’t do the cocaine.”
“‘The cocaine!’ I call it ‘the weed.’ I’m drug dumb. I don’t know shit about drugs. I just don’t do that because I would never do anything to—God forbid—ruin my career. I value my career,” she continued.
Before the medical examiner released the official cause of death, O’Donnell had already expressed her heartbreak over losing the actress, saying she loved Trachtenberg “very much” and wished she “could have helped.”
In the year before her death, Trachtenberg had also responded to public concern over her appearance, insisting she was “happy and healthy” while pushing back against speculation about her health. Her diagnosis and the circumstances surrounding her death were never publicly discussed by the actress during her lifetime, making the news all the more devastating for the generation that grew up watching her on screen.
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