EMERGENCY SPECIAL EP: RIP Michelle Trachtenberg

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey. I'm Maria. I work at a labor union by day and write and watch too much TV by night. I like to say I've been firmly in the CW's clutches since it was The WB. As the great Seth Cohen on The OC once said about the fictional teen drama, The Valley, TV teen dramas are mind numbing escapism.

(00:01):
They exist in a fantasy world where 20 hot actors are usually cosplaying high schoolers in melodramatic depictions of adolescents. But that's honestly why I love teen dramas so much. I love the tropes and the ships and the not at all subtle product placement. I love the early aughts theme songs and the cameo performances by pop punk bands. I love the newer generation of shows that are more diverse and representative of the vastness of teenage girldom.
And I especially love the moments when TV teen dramas get political. You guys, we can organize. Stand together. Speak with one voice. Karl Marx has come alive for me today.
Now it just seems so obviously wrong that those who control capital should make their fortunes off the labor of the working class. Well, since you've fired us, you've given us plenty of time to pick in. Fortress of the world, you're not profiting. Long live the revolution. Hi, all.
Welcome to an emergency special episode of Left is Teen Drama, which is something we are hoping not to get into the habit of doing because we are here, obviously, having an emergency tribute episode to pay respects to a teen drama icon, Michelle Trachtenberg, who sadly passed away at the young age of 39 on Wednesday, 02/26/2025. I'm recording this on Friday, 02/28/2025. And later in the episode, I'll be including some voice memos from various guests and listeners who submitted their reactions and reflections on Michelle's impact over the first three days or so following the news of her death. I found out about this pretty quickly after the news dropped. I was actually sitting with a couple of my work friends having lunch in the office when a friend Diana, who is a recurring guest on this podcast, you might remember, texted me just Maria Michelle Trachtenberg died, and my mouth dropped open.
I, you know, was immediately distracted from the conversation I was having with my coworkers and I, I texted back in all caps, you know, like, Oh my fucking God. No. No. What? And Diana was like, all the pop accounts are, you know, reporting it.
You know, we immediately started going back and forth about how much of an icon she is, how sad it was, how she was only 39. And then Diana is the one who brought up the idea of us doing an emergency tribute episode. So shout out to Diana for inspiring me to make this short memorial episode. This is not something we've ever done before. And again, like I said, I really hope that it's not something we have to do a lot, but it just felt like as I was going through my usual, like, leftist teen drama social media feeds, like a lot of people who care about teen drama content were really affected.
And millennials in general, I think, just it hits really hard when somebody we grew up with passes away because you're not supposed to be passing away yet, right? Like that's it's really 39 is a really young age to die. The oldest millennial is only like 41, you know? It's definitely just absolutely a tragedy when someone in our age range passes away and especially when it's somebody who it felt like was always just there for us as we were growing up. So yeah, I thought that it was worth us doing a short tribute and maybe, you know, helping each other reflect on this and, you know, pay our respects to her art and her performances and who she was as a person as well.
And we'll talk about this as we go through her filmography, but for me, it was always Harriet Spy. You know, I was a prolific writer as a child, and so a character with a notebook writing down her observations was obviously going to be a character that I loved. And I mean, the whole lot with all of the, like, art that, oh golly, brings her and her friends to. It's, like, I think considered a wind chime garden where she's, like, put a whole bunch of her, like, junk, but in a really artful way. There's a place in real life like this called the Cathedral Of Junk in Texas.
It's a scene that just will always stick in my mind. And, yeah, I just it's been a long time since I watched her spy, but I think I'm gonna watch it this weekend because I I loved that movie. And then Ice Princess, I also enjoyed that movie growing up. I watched I remember watching it with my sister. And of course, Gossip Girl, which we just did an episode on at the end of 2024, Georgina wasn't even like, she wasn't a regular cast member.
And considering how few episodes she was in, she made a huge impact on that show. Her character will always be iconic. I think for a lot of people, Virginia Sparks is actually probably what first comes to mind because of how iconic that role was. And then of course, there's a bunch of things that I haven't gotten a chance to see that I just know she's a part of. Like I infamously have not watched Buffy in its entirety yet.
I have watched a few episodes from the beginning of the first season, back when a couple of my friends were trying to get me to get into it during union semester, but it was union semester, so I was very busy and didn't catch. But it's definitely on my to watch list one of these days. And there's also, you know, like EuroTrip and Mysterious Scan have both been on my to watch list on Letterboxd for a while. So I'm thinking I'm gonna move those to the top of the to watch list this year. Yeah.
Let's let's kinda get into Michelle's life. So Michelle Trachtenberg, according to the New York Times obituary that I'm going to cite, I'm going to cite a couple of obituaries. I'll definitely put in the show notes any source that we use. So Michelle Christine Trachtenberg was born on 10/11/1985 in New York City, actually. She's the younger of two daughters of Michael and Lana Trachtenberg.
Her father was a fiber optics technician from Germany. Her mother, a bank manager from Russia. She grew up in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, which, if you know Brooklyn at all, is definitely the area where that ethnic group would be living, so that makes a lot of sense. She was encouraged by her parents to pursue her early screen dreams. Her career began with a series of television commercials when she was a child, which eventually led to media roles.
Her family moved to Los Angeles where she attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks and was within striking range of Hollywood. That's a very typical story of a child actor. So she established her longstanding presence on the small screen at the age of three. She appeared in a television commercial for WISC laundry detergent in which she spilled cranberry juice. But before she was 10, she was making regular appearances in the Nickelodeon sitcom The Adventures of Pete and Pete, which is a Nickelodeon show that was a bit before my time, but I know my older cousins like loved that show.
Hey. My name is Erin. And the first time I ever saw Michelle Tratenberg in anything was in The Adventures of Pete and Pete in the nineties when I was a little kid. I loved this show, but I didn't have any friends that watched the show. The only people I knew that actually watched the show were my my two siblings.
And I think that was probably because it was a show that was very sarcastic. It was on the darker side. If you look at even the music that played in the show, it's it's, like, indie alternative music, which, like, I get it's not for everyone. But, we love this show. And, I remember being a little kid, and I would say, like, in general, my family was kind of how I just described the adventures of P and P, sarcastic, dark, funny.
So I loved the show because it felt like my family. And I especially remember loving it when in, I wanna say, like, maybe the second or third season the show wasn't very long. I think it was only three seasons. But, little Pete got a new friend named Nona, which is Michelle's character. Older Pete already had, like, his best friend, which was Ellen.
And so it finally little Pete got someone, a friend, and it it's Michelle Trachenberg. And she was, like, around my age and was, you know, a realist, I would say, and, you know, wasn't all, like, pink and pretty and whatever, which is kinda how I was as a kid. So me seeing this little girl on TV, I was like, oh, this is just like me. And it was the first time I I saw something like this as opposed to, like, other shows where little girls are kinda glammed up and unreal. So I think, you know, she just plays like a very genuine person, and I always loved her and appreciated her for that.
And, you know, as I got older, I, of course, loved Harriet the Spy. I don't think anyone from, who was a kid in the nineties didn't love Harriet the Spy. But the other role I really remember her in was on Six Feet Under. She was a guest star for a few episodes in one of the later seasons where she is like a famous pop star, almost like a Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. And she just is so funny playing this role.
She's, like, over the top and ridiculous, almost in a Parker Posey way. But I think the the thing about her is she is so genuine in her acting even when she is over the top, which makes her just so lovable and relatable. I think when she passed away a few days ago and I started seeing everyone else's reaction to it, I was shocked that so many other people felt close to her or, like, they're that she's their own. Like, there's just this connection that so many people had to her growing up. And I think it's because of how she acted in all these different roles.
She is just genuine and she'll be missed. RIP. And she also appeared on the ABC daytime drama All My Children. But apparently, her first actual screen credit was, according to Forbes, in 1993 with a guest spot on Melissa Joan Hart's Nickelodeon series, Clarissa Explains It All, so Michelle was definitely an early Nickelodeon kid. According to The Guardian, Trachtenberg managed to rack up a dizzying string of major performances before she had even turned 20 years old.

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Indeed, Gossip Girl's Georgina was one of the few big roles that showed her past her teenage years. She started acting early, a natural who did not receive any formal training, beginning her career with a role in Law and Order when she was six. It's funny how all of these publications are choosing different starting points for her career. There's commercial, there's, Clarissa Sainz et al guest spot, there's Law and Order guest spot, but, you know, she was a working actor, young, young, young. And by all accounts, she showed herself to be precocious and extremely hardworking.
So one thing that's obviously been happening in the last couple of days is that a lot of Michelle Strachtenberg's costars from various projects have been speaking about her. So one reflection that I wanted to share is from Danny Tamberelli, who was a fellow cast member on the adventures of Pete and Pete. He posted a really sweet Instagram post with a couple of pictures of them, one of which I believe was actually a screen cap from the show and the other is a behind the scenes shot. Caption reads, we grew up learning how to make people laugh together. More importantly, we learned to make each other laugh and pull pairings on everyone.
We were doing improv when it was still called playing pretend to get laughs. She was a master of the clothespin game, tagging any and everyone she could. She once got upset when I got my first day phone set because I wouldn't hang out during lunch. She hid the cable so I couldn't play through the amp. I got the message.
She was a bright light, firecracker, and caring person who spent a lot of time and effort advocating for people who needed a louder voice. Michelle was someone to look up to in this business and to the general world at large. She will be missed. All my love, sympathy, and compassion to Lana, Irene, and the rest of her family and friends. I thought that was really, really cute.
So that was, you know, one of her first sort of projects. Harriet the Spy is a 1996 film, so bringing us to Harriet the Spy, that's considered her breakout role. I do think there's some interesting parallels between Harriet the Spy and Georgina. Like, this clip I'm gonna play from Harriet the Spy of Harriet getting her revenge. Kind of reminds me of a Georgina Sparks, like, revenge line.
Marion, get away from me, Harriet. Or what? You gonna tell your father? I heard my parents talking. You don't have a father.
All those stories about horseback riding are garbage. You made them all up. Your father lives in Amsterdam. He hasn't seen you in three years. And you wanna know why, Marian?
Because he doesn't love you. Obviously, I was too in 1996, so I was not watching this in the theaters. But it was a movie that we, I think, had on VHS, I wanna say. It's so crazy trying to remember, like, which things we owned physical media of back in the day when people actually had physical media. I talked to my sister after I recorded the initial recording, and she said that we definitely had it because she remembers that it was an orange VHF.
Yeah. So according to the New York Times, Michelle's breakout came at eleven when she made her big screen debut in the title role of Harriet the Spy, which is film adaptation of Louis Fitzhugh's nineteen sixty four children's book, and it also featured Rosie O'Donnell, Harriet's nanny, oh golly. She drew praise for her performance as Harriet Welsh, a precocious girl who draws scorn from schoolmates over her imagined spy adventures, which she meticulously chronicles in a notebook. Yeah. I mean, I just think his role is talked about it a little bit at the top, but it's just it's so iconic.
And I don't know. I just think the movie means a lot to, like, girls who felt like they were weird at any point in their childhood. That's what I'll say. Hi. This is Colette Schade, author of y two k, how the two thousands became everything.
I was so sad to hear that Michelle Trachtenberg died. I first was introduced to her in 1996 when Harriet the Spy came out, and she starred as Harriet. I love that movie. I went to see it in theaters. And then when the video came out, I watched it practically every day for a while.
I just loved the warmth that she brought to Harriet and the relatability she brought. Like, she really seemed like she could be me. And, actually, that movie, I think I credit it for turning me into a writer because Harriet's always writing and talking about how she wants to sell a book when she grows up. And, yeah, I just after that, followed Michelle Trachtenberg's career for years through some of her other stuff, through Gossip Girl, and it's just it's just really sad what happened. So I think I speak for most millennials when I say it was really devastating.
Rosie O'Donnell reacted to the death. She gave a statement to Us Weekly where she said heartbreaking. I loved her very much. She struggled the last few years. I wish I could have helped, which, I mean, I didn't wanna, like, really belabor this point, but she did have a liver transplant within the last few months.
No cause of death has been reported, but I think many are assuming that it was, you know, health complications around health issues she'd already been having. But again, we don't know that for sure and it's not really the point of this episode for me. So don't want to belabor the point. That brings us into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to the New York Times, she found a new level of fame as a teenager in February when she joined the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer during its fifth season as the younger sister of the mystically powered Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Gilard, who was actually a longtime friend because Ms.
Trachtenberg and Sarah Michelle Gilard knew each other from their days on All My Children. I thought that was really sweet, and I've seen a lot of really cute scenes and images of Sarah and Michelle together, both on screen and off screen. And Sarah Michelle Gillard did post on Instagram on the day of Michelle's Ratzenberg's death, and she wrote, 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. What did you do?
This is blood, isn't it? It can't be me. I'm not a key. I'm not the thing. Oh, sweetie, no.
What what is this all about? What am I? Am I real? Am I anything? So following Buffy, according to the New York Times, miss according to the New York Times, Ms.
Trachtenberg had grown beyond child star status and began to play more adult roles in films like the 02/2004 teenage sex comedy Eurotrip. There was an interesting thing here where she discussed in a 02/2004 interview of the Daily News of New York, there's a scene at a nude beach, and at a certain shot, the bottom of one of my things started to fall out. The filmmaker said, oh, we won't use that. Don't worry. Yeah.
Right, she added. Guess which shot they used. She then, in a 2012 interview with Complex Magazine, recalled a scene in the 02/2006 film Beautiful Ohio that featured her, quote, unquote, naked tush. It was, she said, probably one of the most horrendous moments of my life. She said it would take an army or Martin Scorsese to ever get me naked again.
That was an interesting tidbit to learn. I definitely feel like actors being pressured to be naked when they don't necessarily want to be was something that was probably even more prominent in the early two thousands when Michelle was a teenager, but I also feel like it probably is still a problem. From what we've heard, there's some rumors of that being an issue on the set of Euphoria, for example. So definitely something that is an unfortunate part of this industry and brave and important of Michelle to have spoken out about it. That brings us into Ice Princess.

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According to the New York Times, she took a more wholesome turn in 02/2005 when she played a science geek turned figure skater in ice princess. Hi. I'm Casey Carlisle. I decided to see if I can make myself prove my own hypothesis on the application of physics to the required elements of competitive figure skating. She said in an interview that year of the early show on CBS, I trained for eight months for the movie.
My big favorite move to do is the outside edge, the red eagle, which I worked really hard on and came close to perfecting it many times. And finally, one day, it hits. That's really impressive. Like, yeah, I don't even know what else to say that's impressive. And among the celebrities who did honor Michelle is her Ice Princess costar, Kim Catrale, also known very, you know, well for Sex and City, who posted on Twitter, this is heartbreaking, so talented, much too young.
RIP sweet beauty, x o. My name is Charlotte Morell. I live in Seattle, Washington. And when Michelle Trachtenberg passed away, I immediately thought of ice princess because, how can you not, I feel like Harriet the Spy and Buffy are the kind of main ones. But I don't know.
For me, it was always ice princess. It was always, like, the, you know, girl who's geeky and into math and doesn't have a lot of friends, and then she becomes, you know, this, like, really cool figure skater. And I think it came out in, what, 02/2005. So I was in fifth grade. And I think as a child, I had done some figure skating, but I was never any good.
And I really wanted to be good because I was like, oh, it's so cool. They can do these jumps. And so when ice princess came out, I was like, she's me, but way better at figure skating and math because I was not good at really either of those things. But it definitely was a place for me where I was like, she's beautiful, like, so beautiful. I want to be here, but I also kind of wanna make out with her because she's so pretty.
And, yeah, I just remember Michelle Trachtenberg as someone from my childhood who I registered as being, like, just so stupid hot that I was like, yes. She's like an average girl next door, but she's so beautiful and she's so funny. And, yeah, when I heard that she had died, I, you know, I felt sad, but I also was like, pour one out for, for, you know, our ice princess, pour one out for our gay awakening, pour one out for, pour one out for Michelle. That brings us into Gossip Girl. She played bad girl Georgina Sparks, who was kind of a frenemy of every single one of the main cast members having previously been their friend, and then returned multiple times pretty much solely with the intention of, you know, humiliating everyone, and she was always scheming.
A lot of people who worked on Gossip Girl have shared reflections since Michelle's death. Blake Lively posted an Instagram story with a lengthy reflection. She showed a picture of them and said, this is the first day I met Michelle. She was electricity. You knew when she entered a room because the vibration changed.
Everything she did, she did 200%. She laughed the fullest as one stroke. She faced the fiery head on when she felt something was wrong. She cared deeply about her work. She was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes.
She was fiercely loyal to her friends and brave for those she loved. She was big and bold and distinctly herself, and she always had yummy caramel smelling lip gloss on because she didn't just wanna sparkle on camera. She liked creating a nice experience for anyone who was in her orbit, even down to the subtle smell of her lip gloss because she cared about the sweet details. She was a kind person through and through. Time passes.
You take for granted that you get the chance to see an old friend. To paraphrase, the real tragedies in life are the ones that blindside you on an idle Tuesday. Hold those you love and have loved dear. The world lost a deeply sensitive and good person in Michelle. May her work and her huge heart be remembered by those who were lucky enough to experience her fire.
Additionally, an IATSE member named Thomas who worked on Gossip Girl for the entire show, which as was famously, you know, filmed in New York City. So it was a big source of work for IAC members for, what, like six or seven years there. Anyway, he shared on Twitter, I worked on Gossip Girl for all he said seven seasons, but it's actually six as we know. And most of the cast did their own thing. But she was always sitting outside on the bench outside Silvercup Stage B with whoever was out there, which was often us and our rating truck.
She was one of us. RIP. Joshua Satherin, who was a writer on both Gossip Girl and then became the showrunner of the reboot. He wrote a little thread as well on the day of her death. He said, it was an honor and joy to write for Michelle for so many years.
Writers don't write specific characters on shows, even though many people believe they do. How many times have I been asked who wrote Blair? The answer is everyone. However, Georgina unlocked something in me in which writing her was the easiest thing I'd done. It was partially the character, devious, delicious, direct, the most fun to write, But it was also Michelle.
She has such a clear voice as an actor. You heard her as you typed. You knew she'd make each line rougher, more real, much funnier, and that made the writing better. She was an inspiration and an icon. There's many reasons g g one caught fire when we came back from the strike.
One of the biggest was the intro of her arc, the injection of her. Long live Georgina Sparks and the brilliant woman who gave her the fire. You will be forever missed, x o x o. Hey. It's s or Stride of Pride, as you might know me.
I think Maria probably asked me to talk about Michelle because I'm such a big Gossip Girl fan. But to be honest, I was familiar with Michelle long before that. In a way, it feels like she's been there for my whole life. You know, Harriet the Spy, Inspector Gadget, Ice Princess. Like, I saw Ice Princess in theaters, '17 again.
I mean, she's just kind of always been there even before I discovered Gossip Girl, and it's just so it's just been really fucking surreal today, honestly, that, like, someone who, I guess, defined my childhood and is really only, like, what, like, twelve years older than me has passed on. Quite sad. Mostly, it feels surreal because when I think of Michelle, I think of how alive she was as Georgina. Like, she was so alive on that show. She just I mean, Georgina was one of my favorite villains, not just on TV, but, like, in all of media.
And it was because of Michelle and her portrayal of her and how I don't know. Like, she was just this little, like, chaos demon that, like, would come in and, like, fuck things up every season, and it never got old. It was always, always entertaining. It was just so fun to see Georgina play off of Dan and Serena and Blair and yeah. It's just yeah.
It's just really, really fucking surreal and upsetting. It seems that she had been sick for a long time and had maybe gotten a liver transplant that had complications. And it's just I don't know. It goes back to the fact that, like, health care is a fucking disaster in this country even when you are still on with 62 IMDb credits to your name. So it's just another upsetting reality where yeah.
Jessica Zohr, who played Vanessa, also wrote a beautiful Instagram caption sharing a bunch of photos of the two of them over the years along with lots of other Gossip Girl costars. She wrote, this amazing woman bursts onto the scene with energy that instantly brings a smile to your face. She's not only a true professional, but she's also the perfect antidote to anyone who takes life a bit too seriously. Her kindness and outrageous sense of humor create an atmosphere of joy both on set and beyond. She shared countless laughs during filming over the phone and at various events.
Her captivating stories are so entertaining that you can't help but wanna hear more. She's truly one of a kind. And I think it's important to note, according to Forbes, Trachtenberg's last screen credit was for the Max reboot of Gossip Girl, where she made a pair of guest appearances in 2022 and 2023. So Regina Sparks was the last contribution to the screen that, you know, we got from Michelle Trachtenberg, and I I think that's fitting. I don't think Jesus would approve of that.

(01:04):
Well, you can tell Jesus that the bitch is back. I also briefly wanted to mention that Michelle was known for, you know, as many of these cast members have alluded to, she was known for standing up for herself and others on set. She also took up anti bullying as a cause in her, you know, personal life outside of her work. So in an April 2009 interview, she told 17 magazine that in real life, she was the one targeted by bullies despite the fact that she was the mean girl on Goth Girl herself. She said, in school, the girls were mean to me, and the boys didn't ask me out.
I always started going back to school because I knew I would have to face a lot of mean kids. According to Forbes, one of the Trachtenberg's philanthropic efforts was her work with Stomp Out Bullying's Blue Shirt Day, World Day of Bullying Prevention, in 2013, where she recorded a public service announcement for the organization. Plus, in an Instagram post in February 2020, Trachtenberg opened up about how she was a target of ridicule in school and her youth because of her acting profession. Despite the hardships, Trachtenberg used the social media platform to tell of the bullying she experienced as a way to encourage fans going through the same thing to be brave and never give away their senses of self. The kids were cruel.
There is no need to harp on the past, but I still have scars from being thrown downstairs and slammed into lockers head first, Trachtenberg wrote in the post. I write this to every child, teen, person out there who was bullied. You are something. Do not put your value in someone else. Not letting them win is your win.
Hi. My name is Kelly Diaz. Thanks for inviting me to share my reflections on the life and work of Michelle Trachtenberg. Like many other millennial women, I've been a fan of her since childhood and was shocked to learn of her passing. One of the unpopular opinions I talk about a lot is that I I think acting awards shouldn't be given out for one role, but should be based on two or more because you only know if someone is really talented if they can prove they have range.
And Michelle is one of those people who has consistently proven this. Instead of only being able to play the villain or the girl next door, Michelle was one of those people who I could absolutely despise in Gossip Girl, and honestly a lot in Buffy. She's pretty insufferable a lot of the time she was playing Don, but still absolutely adore in Harriet the Spy or Ice Princess. And it's funny the way you can watch an actor age out of order based on when you've watched their work. So Harriet the Spy was my first exposure to her.
Definitely need to have a tomato and mayo sandwiched and do some journaling in her honor this weekend, followed by Ice Princess. Then when I saw her in Gossip Girl as a teenager, my brain actually struggled to reconcile that sweet girl with the villain who was in front of me. Then it wasn't until my late twenties that I watched Buffy for the first time. And it was fun to see her go back to being a young teen, trying to figure out where she fit into the world. Then actually this past summer, coincidentally, I watched Eurotrip for the first time and watched her as an 18 year old in that exciting transition from high school to college.
It's just really funny thinking about her being a kid, and then this sort of, like, evil teenager, and then this sort of, like, bratty but young and naive and cute teenager and then being this, like, sort of wild, let's go around Europe with my brother and his buddies teenager. And it's really too bad we didn't get to see more of her as an adult, and she'll always be missed. And I just want to end with a story I always think about when it comes to Michelle, which could just be a rumor. So in that case, sorry for spreading misinformation. But I've heard that she was a big fan of Buffy and wrote letters asking to be in it until they create a role for her.
And as a fangirl who gets super hyper invested in my favorite shows and imagines being invited to join the cast and befriend all of my favorite actors. This story really inspired me. Of course, I don't think it it would have worked quite as well if I did seeing as I didn't have, you know, a manager or agent and didn't have proof that I could act through starring in the titular role of a movie as an 11 year old. But despite those differences, the spirit of that story has always really stuck with me and I hold it close to my heart. It's something that I call on a lot when I'm thinking that, you know, I can't manifest my dreams.
She reminds me that sometimes you can. So here's a toast to making big dreams come true and writing yourself into your favorite stories. Rest in peace, Michelle. Also, Tractionberg told Complex that despite dealing with the pressures of stardom from an early age, she managed to steer clear of the pitfalls of early fame, including drugs. She said, my mom was productive, but she just said it's your choice.
You ruin your career or don't. If you realize how lucky you are to be sitting in the position you are, then you just don't drink. Don't do the cocaine. It definitely still feels like she died too young and that feels like a child star like pattern, but it all indications show that it was, you know, health complications and not not that rabbit hole that many child stars go down. Usually because of abuse that they actually experienced on set.
We're learning that more and more from the Quiet on Set documentary and reports that have generally been coming out about Nickelodeon, which again, Michelle was a Nickelodeon kid. So unsure how much she witnessed of that, but you know, it's not always the way the story goes that you get to adulthood. I don't know. I think that the plight of child stars is a much larger conversation, but it's good to know that Michelle didn't feel like she fell into the trap of being a child star who was abused and then falling down a drug addiction or, you know, getting a DUI, all of that kind of stuff. So I don't know.
This has definitely not been a normal episode of Love to Scene Drama, but I felt it was important that we put it out. Thank you to everyone who submitted your voice memos. I really think that they added a lot to this episode. And let's all go back and watch, you know, a favorite Gossip Girl's Georgina episode, or let's rewatch Harriet the Spy or Buffy episode we loved, or, you know, we need a wholesome good time. Let's watch some Ice Princess and really marvel at all of the tricks that Michelle was able to master in her eight months of training.
Long live the legacy of Michelle Trachtenberg. Rest in peace. And we are sending so much love and solidarity to her family and friends. And, we hope that they are able to grieve privately and not, like, you know, fucking bothered every five seconds by media, but that seems unlikely. But that's what I hope.
Thank you for listening. I hope that this has in any way helped with processing this really sad loss. We'll be back soon with another special episode that was actually planned. Love and solidarity as always. Thanks for listening to leftist teen drama.
Follow us on social media for updates. Links to our Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and TikTok are in the show notes along with links to suggested additional reading on the topics discussed. And don't forget to rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Solidarity forever, free Palestine, and abolish the PIC. Signing off, Maria.

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