Michelle Trachtenberg

[Nightfly]

There have been hints for a while that she was having a very hard time. Rosie O'Donnell said vaguely that Trachtenberg had been "struggling" the last few years. In one of her recent selfies on Instagram, she could literally have passed for 60.

Now that she's gone I guess we'll find out the whole story. I have a hunch it's going to be very sad. I hope that it was "only" that she was physically ill -- not that dying that age isn't tragic enough -- but I have a feeling it'll be a lot worse.

 

[Umbran]

Word seems to be that she recently had to get a liver transplant; odds are pretty good her death is related to complications with that. We may not be South Korea levels of bad but we still don't make life very easy for stars here in the States, especially not child stars. For every Wil Wheaton or Mara Wilson weird enough to cope and get through it mostly unscathed, there's, well...

... there's people who get cancer, but are young and strong enough that a transplant might be a good option.

Folks, there are normal (well, not related to substance abuse) medical reasons to need a transplant.

 

[Clint_L]

I had read that she had been struggling with alcohol for a while but trying to look it up now all I can find is rumor and "sources near" kind of stuff, so it might just be speculation. I'll remove the comment in that case.

A number of the responses to her death have mentioned that she had struggled in recent years - this is from people who knew and worked with her. So I don't think this is unreasonable speculation.

It's just very sad. My spouse and I have been rewatching Buffy and just finished Season 5. She's such a bright spark on Buffy. This puts a whole new perspective on it.

 

[Willie the Duck]

She is a bit young for it to be alcohol related. Not impossible, but much younger than I would expect. There are other ways to screw up the liver, drugs, and hepatises of all types. In fact, looking up the causes of liver failure there are quite a few. In fact, the Mayo clinic web entry on liver failure lists "being female" as a major risk factor in liver failure.

I want to reiterate that we don't know if her liver issues were substance abuse related, or honestly whether her death was even related to the liver transplant. However, as a member of the SA recovery community, I want to give a warning. Liver disease is incredibly fickle. Some people can absolutely wreck their bodies with alcohol or other drugs for decades and their livers effectively show no issues*. Others can binge drink every other weekend ages 18-23 and already show serious damage. There isn't a too-young for alcohol-related liver damage. There's a lot more people than I previously realized that are dealing with long term consequences of even early or short-lived excesses. If you or someone you know is worried about their alcohol consumption, by all means talk to your doctor now -- even if (perhaps especially if) you know you're not ready to seriously consider quitting yet.
*or no permanent issues -- I drank myself to blackout state every night for two decades and nearly died because my body stopped accepting potassium into and removing iron from my blood, but once I sobered up my liver is effectively cirrhosis-free. I didn't deserve to be that lucky, I certainly didn't earn it, but here I am, and the person one story over isn't.

 

[billd91]

A number of the responses to her death have mentioned that she had struggled in recent years - this is from people who knew and worked with her. So I don't think this is unreasonable speculation.

It's just very sad. My spouse and I have been rewatching Buffy and just finished Season 5. She's such a bright spark on Buffy. This puts a whole new perspective on it.

Struggling could be struggling with serious illness, not just alcohol/substance abuse. I understand the speculation, but I encourage people to keep an open mind with it unless more reliable information is produced.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Liver disease is incredibly fickle.

Yeah the liver is a very tricky organ.

I was once told I was "probably going to die within 48 hours" (thanks doc!) and turned Simpsons yellow when my liver shut down for no apparent reason in my 20s, and the only thing they could guess was that it was extremely rare complication of mono (uncertain as tests for mono came back negative - apparently those aren't super-reliable though and I had had fever/chills/etc.). Then it just came back online like nothing had ever happened! Apparently despite shutting down for like a day or more there was no permanent harm to it (which confused the doctors further).

And I immediately thought of that here, poor Michelle, it could easily have been something really wack and just out-of-the-blue like that

 

[MGibster]

I was once told I was "probably going to die within 48 hours" (thanks doc!) and turned Simpsons yellow when my liver shut down for no apparent reason in my 20s, and the only thing they could guess was that it was extremely rare complication of mono (uncertain as tests for mono came back negative - apparently those aren't super-reliable though and I had had fever/chills/etc.).

Ruin Explorer's Liver: "No apparent reason? You know what you did."

I'm glad your liver decided to start behaving itself.

 

[Ryujin]

... there's people who get cancer, but are young and strong enough that a transplant might be a good option.

Folks, there are normal (well, not related to substance abuse) medical reasons to need a transplant.

One of long time co-workers passed away, just before Covid, from liver cancer. From what he said his mother had hepatitis, when he was born, and it was passed on. This resulted in the cancer, later in life. He was too far gone for a transplant, when it was discovered.

EDIT- Diabetes can also do a number on your liver. High blood sugar does damage.

 

[Zardnaar]

I had a mate who wrecked himself on booze in about two years.

Really high wage double and triple time in the contract. Lived at home. Age 18 or 19 or so.

Had tge money liked shouting drinks/showing off.

Drink of choice was absinthe. 75-85% abv.

2 years later had to leave that job and stop drinking.

You can danage your liver very fast if you try hard enough.

By comparison I was social binge drinker. Litre of vodka or close to it occasionally if I went hard. He was doing that few times a week.
He wasn't even addicted just lifestyle.

 

[Stalker0]

Its interesting culturally that Trachtenbeg's death is getting so much more press, when Gene Hackman (who is a much more prolific and famous actor and seems to have died under much more mysterious circumstances) has gotten very little in comparison.