Rosie O’Donnell Opens Up About Michelle Trachtenberg’s Death and Possible Addiction Struggles
O’Donnell’s remarks sparked confusion and concern online.
Rosie O’Donnell is opening up about the death of her Harriet the Spy co-star, Michelle Trachtenberg, but her comments are leaving people with more questions than answers.
During a recent conversation with Variety, O’Donnell was asked about Trachtenberg, who died unexpectedly in February 2025.
“It was a tragedy,” she said. “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.”
Although Trachtenberg’s family declined an autopsy, after toxicology and laboratory test results, a spokesperson for the New York City Office of the Medical Examiner revealed that her cause of death was complications of diabetes mellitus.
However, during her interview, O’Donnell repeatedly brought up addiction and said that she believed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress had gotten “into drugs and alcohol” before the two of them lost touch.
“In the last few years, when she was in pretty bad shape, she would call me and we would talk,” she recalled. “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. 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. I would call her and go, ‘Honey, are you heading over?’ and she’d go, ‘Was that today?'”
The comedian went on to say that she wished she “could have done more,” likening Trachtenberg’s trajectory to that of Whitney Houston and calling her “inaccessible toward the end.”
“She was not in good shape. I didn’t think that she would die,” she added.
O’Donnell’s persistent comments about addiction left fans somewhat confused, considering Trachtenberg’s official cause of death made no mention of substance use. Multiple outlets reported that the actress underwent a liver transplant in the months before her death, leading to speculation that the procedure played a role in the diabetes complications. O’Donnell’s comments appear to be the first public suggestion from someone close to Trachtenberg that she may have struggled with addiction, though neither the actress nor her family ever publicly discussed such issues.
“Wait? Is Rosie letting something out of the bag here? Didn’t Michelle Trachtenberg die from complications from diabetes? Wonder if that wasn’t actually accurate, or Rosie has just completely lost the plot,” one person wondered on X.
This is so disingenuous and tasteless. Yes, she had to get a liver transplant. And that may have been from an addiction. But she died from diabetes complications bc of the liver transplant. No one needed to know she was an addict. https://t.co/SJhQFbzPPL
— smashley. (@ReinaAsh) July 16, 2026
sorry but this was not Rosie's place to speak on. Michelle's family has made it clear from the beginning that they wanted very little info surrounding her passing to be made public which is why they declined to have an autopsy done. https://t.co/3iTUvZxYgN
— Vanessa Hudgens Supremacy ✰ (@makevoumine) July 16, 2026
everybody’s confused on how she’s talking about drugs and alcohol when michelle died from liver issues…
— DE'RON 🌞 (@deronworld) July 16, 2026
baby, how do you think such a young woman got the liver issues? it didn’t just come out of thin air unfortunately. https://t.co/N6lDbPtj0R pic.twitter.com/o7X3OiAKNp
In 2010, Trachtenberg told Complex that she made a point to avoid drugs. “I’m drug dumb,” she said. “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.”
We may never know whether that changed in the 15 years that followed, nor is it really necessary for that information to be turned into public spectacle even if it did. But we can agree with O’Donnell on one point: Trachtenberg’s death certainly was a tragedy.
