Michelle Trachtenberg called out ‘haters’ for unkind comments on her health weeks before death: Why do you have to hate? | Hollywood


Feb 27, 2025 09:58 AM IST

Michelle Trachtenberg, who died on Wednesday, had dealt with jibes and comments about her health and appearance for months before her death.

Actor Michelle Trachtenberg’s death on Wednesday left Hollywood reeling. The 39-year-old, best known for her appearances on iconic shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, was a beloved figure in the industry. However, over the last couple of years, the actor had been dealing with health issues and even had to come out and address ‘haters’ after comments on her appearance online. (Also read: Why Michelle Trachtenberg’s untimely passing is reminding people of Chadwick Boseman)

Michelle Trachtenberg at the 28th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party on February 9, 2020, in West Hollywood, California. (File Photo by Michael Tran / AFP)(AFP)

Michelle Trachtenberg’s response to haters

In 2024, after many commented on Michelle’s weight loss on social media, the actor took to social media to share a selfie and wrote, “Fun fact. This is my face. Not malnutrition, no problems. Why do you have to hate? Get a calendar.”

In another post later in the year, she addressed the negative comments she often received about her appearance and health and wrote, “I’ve received several comments recently about my appearance. I have never had plastic surgery. I am happy and healthy. Check yourself, haters.” In one of the comments on the post, she wrote, “Realize I’m not 14. I’m 38.” Some of the responses were as recent as the end of 2024.

Yet, the criticism continued right up until her death, with many followers leaving unkind comments about her ‘jaundiced eyes’ and ‘chapped lips’ in pictures.

Michelle Trachtenberg’s death

Police responded to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. at a 51-story luxury apartment tower in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood, where officers found Trachtenberg “unconscious and unresponsive,” according to an NYPD statement.

Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. No foul play was suspected, and the New York Medical Examiner is investigating the cause of death, police said. There were reports that the actor had a live transplant last yea,r but it has not been linked to her death so far.

“The family requests privacy for their loss,” Trachtenberg’s representative, Gary Mantoosh, said in a statement Wednesday.

Michelle Trachtenberg was a former child star who appeared in the 1996 Harriet the Spy hit movie and went on to co-star in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl.

(With AP inputs)

rec-icon Recommended Topics
Stay connected with all the glitz and glam from the world of entertainment, right from Hollywood gossip to Bollywood chit chat. Also don’t miss out on music buzz, anime scoops and OTT action.

See More

Stay connected with all the glitz and glam from the world of entertainment, right from Hollywood gossip to Bollywood chit chat. Also don’t miss out on music buzz, anime scoops and OTT action.

Leave a Reply