{"id":9693,"date":"2026-07-18T16:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9693"},"modified":"2026-07-18T16:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:00:33","slug":"rosie-odonnell-says-michelle-trachtenberg-got-into-drugs-and-alcohol-ahead-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9693","title":{"rendered":"Rosie O&#8217;Donnell Says Michelle Trachtenberg &#8216;Got Into Drugs and Alcohol&#8217; Ahead of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:default1=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Back in February of 2025, beloved actress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehollywoodgossip.com\/2025\/02\/michelle-trachtenberg-dead-at-39-stars-react-to-stunning-loss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michelle Trachtenberg passed away<\/a> unexpectedly.<\/p>\n<p>The star of such popular films and television series as <em>EuroTrip<\/em>, <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em>, and <em>Gossip Girl <\/em>was just 39 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Trachtenberg got her start as a child star in films such as <em>Harriet the Spy<\/em>, and now, her co-star in that film, Rosie O\u2019Donnell, is opening up about Michelle\u2019s final days.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Actress Michelle Trachtenberg attends &quot;Geezer&quot; Premiere - 2016 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios on April 23, 2016 in New York City.\" class=\"wp-image-559222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-960x639.jpg 960w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1080x719.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1200x799.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\"\/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Actress Michelle Trachtenberg attends &quot;Geezer&quot; Premiere - 2016 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios on April 23, 2016 in New York City.\" class=\"wp-image-559222 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-960x639.jpg 960w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1080x719.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-1200x799.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-scaled.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actress Michelle Trachtenberg attends \u201cGeezer\u201d Premiere \u2013 2016 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studios on April 23, 2016 in New York City.<span class=\"image-caption-credit\"> (Photo by Theo Wargo\/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The actress and comedian shared emotional new details in a candid interview with <em>Variety<\/em>, revealing that addiction had taken a devastating toll on Trachtenberg before her death.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell said she remained in contact with Trachtenberg during her final years and tried to support her as her health declined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the last few years, when she was in pretty bad shape, she would call me, and we would talk,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said.<\/p>\n<p>Concerned about what she was witnessing, O\u2019Donnell even reached out to Trachtenberg\u2019s mother for answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>According to O\u2019Donnell, the two repeatedly made plans to spend time together, but those visits never came to fruition.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Da5XCN6jdlo\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"\/>\n<p>\u201cWe were supposed to see each other three or four times, and she just never showed up \u2014 sometimes at restaurants, other times at my house where we\u2019d had someone prepare the whole meal,\u201d she recalled. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would call her and go, \u2018Honey, are you heading over?\u2019 and she\u2019d go, \u2018Was that today?\u2019 She was not in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Looking back, O\u2019Donnell admitted she wishes she had been able to do more for Trachtenberg.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tried to help her as much as I could, but she was inaccessible toward the end, and it was tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also reflected on Trachtenberg\u2019s remarkable talent, remembering the actress as an exceptionally gifted child performer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell added that Trachtenberg had once been incredibly close with her mother, Lana, and her ballerina sister before, she believes, substance abuse changed the trajectory of her life.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell said Trachtenberg\u2019s death was especially difficult because she never expected it to happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t think that she would die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She ended with a sobering reminder about the dangers of addiction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith most people suffering from addiction, their loved ones think that they\u2019ll survive it, but you can die from your addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it happens too often that it must be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, Trachtenberg\u2019s death still weighs heavily on O\u2019Donnell\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n<p>And millions who have lost loved ones to addiction can relate to her feeling that she wished she could have done more.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Time: 2 minutes Back in February of 2025, beloved actress Michelle Trachtenberg passed away unexpectedly. The star of such popular films and television series as EuroTrip, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Gossip Girl was just 39 years old. Trachtenberg got her start as a child star in films such as Harriet the Spy, and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-523569690-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}