Actor Michelle Trachtenberg died from complications with diabetes, the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday.
The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star, 39, was found dead in February inside her New York City apartment. Police said at the time there was no foul play suspected.
Trachtenberg’s abrupt death shocked fans who were unaware she had been dealing with medical issues. A source told NBC New York that the actor had recently received a liver transplant. It is not clear why Trachtenberg received the transplant.
Diabetes can increase a person’s risk for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, when too much fat builds up in the liver, according to the Mayo Clinic. A side effect of the disease can be severe liver scarring, or cirrhosis, the clinic website said.
The inverse is also true, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes share overlapping risk factors, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
“Research on this connection is relatively new, but it’s becoming clear that each condition increases the risk for the other,” the CDC website said.
In addition to her role on the cult favorite “Buffy” TV series, Trachtenberg was also known for her work on“Gossip Girl.”
From 2000 to 2003, she appeared in more than 60 episodes of “Buffy” as the younger sister of the title character played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
“Michelle touched a generation of television fans throughout her career, including in her unforgettable role as the independent and strong-willed Dawn Summers in ‘Buffy,’” 20th Century Fox Television, which produced the series, said in a statement shortly after Trachtenberg’s death.
The actor was also a fan favorite on 28 episodes of “Gossip Girl,” between 2008 and 2012, playing Georgina Sparks, a complicated frenemy to virtually all the show’s characters.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the title character and Trachtenberg’s older sister, paid tribute to Trachtenberg in an emotional post to Instagram following her death.
Gellar’s caption was a variation of the last words she spoke in the show’s season five finale, when Buffy sacrifices her life to save her younger sister.
“Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you,” Gellar wrote. “The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you.”
