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Rosie O’Donnell has opened up about her relationship with the late Michelle Trachtenberg, whom she starred alongside in the 1996 cult classic film Harriet the Spy. Trachtenberg died in February 2025 of natural causes due to complications of diabetes.
In a conversation with Variety, O’Donnell called the loss a “tragedy,” and fondly remembered Trachtenberg as a precocious, fast learner. “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,” O’Donnell said.
“She was so close to her mother, Lana, and her sister, who’s a ballerina,” she continued, before pointing to addiction as a pressing concern. “They were a very loving family, and then, you know, she got into drugs and alcohol, I believe, and then I lost touch with her. In the last few years, when she was in pretty bad shape, she would call me and we would talk. 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.”
According to O’Donnell, she tried to meet up with Trachtenberg “three or four times,” but the actress never showed up. “Sometimes at restaurants, other times at my house where we’d had someone prepare the whole meal,” O’Donnell said. “I would call her and go, ‘Honey, are you heading over?’ and she’d go, ‘Was that today?’ She was not in good shape. I didn’t think that she would die. With most people suffering from addiction, their loved ones think that they’ll survive it, but you can die from your addiction to drugs or alcohol, and it happens too often that it must be taken seriously.”
O’Donnell expressed remorse about her inability to reach Trachtenberg. “I wish I could have done more,” O’Donnell said. “I tried to help her as much as I could, but she was inaccessible toward the end, and it was tragic. It reminded me of Whitney Houston where everyone knew what was going on, but no one was willing to say something, and often because the people that are closest to you are employed by you when you’re that big of an entity, and they don’t want to lose their job or their money.”
On that note, O’Donnell recalled the moment when Houston was set to appear on her now-defunct program The Rosie O’Donnell Show. “With Whitney, I did say that to her people when she didn’t show up for Cinderella,” O’Donnell said. “It was supposed to be a whole hour with her and Brandy, and she didn’t show up just a few minutes before the show went live. I said to them after the show, ‘This is her legacy, and if she dies it’s on your watch.'”
In a vulnerable moment, O’Donnell shared that addiction has hit her family, too. “I have a daughter who’s addicted,” O’Donnell revealed. “She’s been sober a year and a half and she’s currently in prison, sadly, but she was born addicted to drugs and never really had a fair shake. It’s very serious and there are millions of families in America going through the same thing.”
English (US) · 