'I will always love you': Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar shares heartbreaking tribute to Michelle Trachtenberg
27 February 2025, 15:03 | Updated: 27 February 2025, 15:34
Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar has broken her silecne following the death of Michelle Trachtenberg.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The star took to Instagram to share a series of snaps alongside her on-screen sister.
Michelle Trachtenberg, best known for her roles in hit shows including Buffy and Gossip Girl, passed away at the age of 39 this week.
Starring as Sarah Michelle Gellar's younger sister Dawn Summers in hit teen supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Trachtenberg appeared in the show from 2000-2003.
The snaps were accompanied by what appears to be a conversation Gellar had with Trachtenberg before her passing.
It read: “Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you."
Recent weeks had seen Trachtenberg had post a string of worrying photos, updating her 800,000 Instagram followers with images that showed the star looking increasingly gaunt.
It comes as a source told the New York Post that the actress had recently undergone a liver transplant.
Born on October 11, 1985, in New York City, Trachtenberg began her acting career at the age of three, appearing in adverts before landing roles on TV.
In 1992 she secured a recurring role in children's sitcom The Adventures Of Pete & Pete and in 1996 she starred in film Harriet The Spy as an 11-year-old given to spying on neighbours and classmates, and concocting outrageous lies to embellish the everyday details in her private journal.
She was also known for playing Penny in 1999 spy film Inspector Gadget and Jenny in 2004 movie EuroTrip.
In 2005 she starred opposite Sex And The City actress Kim Cattrall in Ice Princess
Perhaps her most iconic role was of Dawn Summers, sister to the titular Buffy.
She joined the cult hit in 2000 and remained with the show till its conclusion three years later.
Trachtenberg later found fame playing the devilish Georgina Sparks, a young socialite of Manhattan's Upper East Side who created havoc throughout the show, blackmailing Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), among other schemes.
Lively has taken to Instagram stories to pay tribute to former co-star in a lengthy post.
She captioned a photo of the pair: "Everything she did, she did 200%.
"She laughed the fullest at someone's joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes, she was fiercely loyal to her friends and brave for those she loved, she was big and bold and distinctly herself."
Trachtenberg's last major acting role was in 2021 as the host of a true-crime docuseries Meet, Marry, Murder, which appeared on digital streamer Tubi.
In 2021, she accused Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon of inappropriate behaviour on set, after her co-star Charisma Carpenter said she had been left traumatised due to the treatment she received from Whedon.
