(NEXSTAR) – Sarah Michelle Gellar, the star of TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” shared a sweet message to her late co-star Michelle Trachtenberg on what would’ve been the latter’s 40th birthday.
In the post, shared on Oct. 11, Gellar remembered her and her on-screen sister’s relationship during their time on “Buffy,” after having appeared on the same soap opera as child actors years before.
“When you turned 16, it was hard not to still see you as the little girl I met on ‘All My Children,’” Gellar wrote in the Instagram post. “When you turned 21, I had to teach myself to not see you as the little sister anymore. I can’t imagine what 40 would have been like. This I know… it would be filled with love. Happy birthday @michelletrachtenberg.”
A video accompanying the message contained a clip from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” showing Gellar and Trachtenberg’s characters embracing.
Actresses Michelle Trachtenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar are pictured at the 25th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival on March 20, 2008, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)
Michelle Trachtenberg, a cast member in the film “Killing Kennedy,” is photographed at the premiere of the film at the Saban Theatre on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
ADVERTISEMENTMichelle Trachtenberg appears at The Art of Elysium’s Ninth annual Heaven Gala in Culver City, California, on Jan. 9, 2016. (Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File)
Trachenberg died at the age of 39 on Feb. 26, 2025, after being found unresponsive in her Manhattan apartment, Nexstar’s WPIX reported. Her cause of death was later determined to be complications from diabetes.
Trachtenberg had also undergone a liver transplant months before her death, ABC News reported at the time.
Trachtenberg rose to fame as a child actress with roles in “The Adventures of Pete & Pete,” “Harriet the Spy” and “Inspector Gadget,” and later appeared in TV shows and movies including “EuroTrip,” “Gossip Girl” and the final three seasons of “Buffy.”
As Gellar mentioned in her post, one of Trachtenberg’s earliest TV roles was on “All My Children,” appearing on the show several times in 1994.
Gellar, upon Trachtenberg’s death in February, had reacted to the actress’ passing in an Instagram post featuring several photos of she and Trachtenberg on- and off-set.
“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,” Gellar wrote, appearing to paraphrase lines of dialogue from “Buffy.”
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