Michelle Trachtenberg dies at 39, ‘Gossip Girl’ co-star Blake Lively pens emotional tribute

Former child star Michelle Trachtenberg, known for Buffy and Gossip Girl, has died at 39; cause under investigation.

Michelle Trachtenberg, a former child star who appeared in the 1996 hit movie Harriet the Spy and later co-starred in two buzzy millennial-era TV shows — Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl — has died. She was 39.

Police responded to a 911 call shortly after 8 a.m. at a 51-story luxury apartment tower in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, 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.

The report also revealed that Trachtenberg had recently undergone a liver transplant and may have faced complications. While her death is believed to be from natural causes, an autopsy has yet to be conducted.

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

Trachtenberg was eight when she began playing Nona Mecklenberg on Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 to 1996. She then starred in the title role in the film adaptations of Harriet the Spy and Inspector Gadget, opposite Matthew Broderick.

In 2000, Trachtenberg joined the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, playing Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, from 2000 to 2003.