When I heard that Michelle Trachtenberg died of diabetes complications, my heart sank.

On February 26, the 39-year-old actress, best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl, and figure skater Casey in Ice Princess, was found ‘unconscious and unresponsive’ by police in Manhattan.

Now it has been determined that she died ultimately as a result of her diabetes mellitus, the City Office of Chief Medical Examiner told Deadline.

The coroner’s office initially said her cause of death would remain undetermined as her family blocked an autopsy on religious grounds, but a toxicology report shed some light on the circumstances. 

While we don’t know which type of diabetes Michelle was impacted by, the gut-wrenching circumstances surrounding her death hit me hard both as a type 1 diabetic and a lifelong fan of her work, having watched her star in Ice Princess when I was seven.

I was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition in 2015, after months of symptoms. 

I was so exhausted that I’d come home from school every day and collapse into bed. I inexplicably dropped two dress sizes almost overnight – for which I was complimented and asked what diet I was on by an unassuming friend – and I had a constant, insatiable thirst.

Initially, my doctor dismissed my worries and diagnosed me with oral thrush.

Realising that a friend had previously experienced identical symptoms, it was only when my mum took me to the GP and demanded that they test my blood sugar that I finally received answers.

And as a somewhat naïve 17-year-old who thought I’d live with a bill of clean health forever, I was shocked to be told I had a serious condition. 

From the GP’s surgery, I went straight to the hospital, where the specialist told me that if I came in any later, I might not have survived. I cried, counting my blessings.

And reading the circumstances surrounding Michelle’s death has left me reflecting on what it means to live with a condition that can be so relentless.

In the 10 years since I was diagnosed, it’s become increasingly apparent to me that people living with diabetes – in all their forms – are too often the butt of jokes.

We’re constantly misrepresented in the media, judged for our lifestyle choices, and interrogated about our medical history.

I’ve been asked whether I ‘was given too much sugar as a child’, if I have the ‘good type or the bad type,’ and I’ve had strangers on public transport question whether my insulin pump is a ‘nicotine patch.’

And at the same time, I and countless other diabetics have had to listen to repeated jibes about our condition over the years – like gags about one particularly sugary treat giving someone instant diabetes,’ or the infamous ‘Diabeetus’ meme that’s circulated on the internet for decades.

Well diabetes is not, never has been, and never will be funny. It’s a lifelong condition, and for type 1 specifically, there’s still no cure.

Shortly before her death, Michelle, who never went public about her diabetes and underwent a liver transplant last year, was publicly interrogated over her appearance.

Posting a selfie to Instagram in January 2024, she wrote in her caption: ‘Fun fact. This is my face. Not malnutrition no problems. Why do you have [to] hate? Get a calendar.’

Fans had previously raised concerns she looked ‘sick’.

I’ve also had people comment on my appearance due to diabetes, and now that we know that Michelle’s cause of death was complications from the condition, we’ve been given a reminder that this condition should be taken seriously, and continues to take precious lives like hers. 

And it’s devastating.

At the same time, the price of insulin in the US – where Michelle lived – is continuing to place pressure on people living with diabetes, some of whom are faced with the choice of paying for their medication, or for their household bills.

A 2020 study from non-profit organisation RAND previously found its ‘astronomical’ price only serves to ‘harm’ American families, with one vial costing $12 (£9.06) in Canada, $8 (in the UK) but more than $98.70 (£74.56) in America.

It shouldn’t be this way.

It’s for all these reasons that Michelle’s death hits home for me, and many others. 

It shows us that despite the constant interrogation and outrage of internet culture (that often thinks it’s achieving something by publicly criticising people on their appearances), it’s never really possible to know the health struggles someone might be facing. 

They might not even know themselves.

There are so many battles that are fought unsaid, and in silence. And at the same time, this should be a sign that it’s time to stop treating diabetes as a joke – and instead, call out the cruel punchlines that, time and time again, target people like me living with this reality.

There are no days off from diabetes. It’s tiring, it’s debilitating, and completely unrelenting, and as we’ve sadly seen with Michelle, it can claim lives completely prematurely. May our Dawn Summers, our Ice Princess, and our iconic Georgina Sparks rest in peace.

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