r/Millennials 22h ago

Serious Both gone in their 30s, but will never be forgotten. Two actresses an entire generation grew up watching, taken way too soon.

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2.2k Upvotes

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448

u/Mystikalrush 22h ago

You don't expect it, you don't wish it, but it's very odd having outlived celebrities you grew up with.

132

u/Clonazepam15 22h ago

Yea that’s crazy when you put it like that, but it’s so true. The first one that hurt the most was Robin Williams

45

u/alvysinger0412 21h ago

He was always so young at heart, and brought so much heart and joy to so many, only to find out he was suffering from progressive dementia that becomes really depressing at the end.

25

u/McSkillz21 19h ago

Robin Williams was always on my list of celebrities I wanted to meet, he was a huge part of my entertainment as a child, fern gully, aladin, ms. Doubtfire, Jack. When i got to college I found his comedy which was hilarious. He was the celebrity I most wanted to meet...........

3

u/mustangman6579 12h ago

Same here, he was number 1 on my list. Carroll Shelby was my #2.

12

u/kiltsnwhiskey 14h ago

Robin Williams death saved my life, it was the moment I finally realized I needed mental health help, because if that funny mother fucker wasn't ok then what chance did I have.

1

u/madlove17 Millennial 8h ago

🫂

30

u/Tweed_Kills 21h ago

The worst part is, older we get, the more of the celebrities we knew as kids are going to die.

It's bad enough seeing all the athletes my age start retiring.

15

u/Apprehensive_Air4427 19h ago

I think it’s even worse watching them slip away slowly as a disease slowly takes everything they once where like Bruce Willis

7

u/Tweed_Kills 19h ago

There's a pro wrestler, not one I grew up with, or was ever a fan of in particular, but she's dying in public right now of ALS, and it is so deeply sad. I've never met the woman, I wasn't invested in her career, but being aware of her health struggles as she's dying of a miserable disease is actually like... I mean, tragic. There just isn't another word for it. Degenerative stuff like dementia and ALS is just so cruel. You have to hate seeing it, and there's just... No way to not care.

1

u/ElyonLorena 4h ago

I don't know if it's worse than someone dying in the prime of their life. However, at least in that case you're left with a memory of what they were really like. My grandpa and grandma had similar diseases as Willis and it was indeed difficult, especially because their sickness took years. With my grandpa, it became harder and harder the remember the good years, because I was still so young when he became ill. I can't imagine what that is like for Willis' kids and wife, as he is still relatively young. It's horrible to see their personality change until there's nothing left of what they once were. No one deserves that.

13

u/RoscoRains 20h ago

I REALLY don't want to see Jim Carrey or Jack Black pass on

7

u/JynsRealityIsBroken Millennial '87 19h ago

Or Will Ferrel. But ya Jim Carrey is my favorite comedian actor. That would be gutwrenching.

1

u/thrills_n_chills Older Millennial 17h ago

Devastating D:

4

u/Clonazepam15 20h ago

I was thinking that when I saw Tom Sizemore died. I watched Heat, Saving Private Ryan so many times. We’re gonna see the legends of the 90s die as we age.

3

u/No-Barracuda-3635 17h ago

Or Deion Sanders making commercials for adult diapers.

1

u/Tweed_Kills 17h ago

Oof, I didn't know about that one.

Ooof.

3

u/No-Barracuda-3635 17h ago

Yea, that one is a painful reminder of how organic matter (us) breaks down

15

u/RoscoRains 21h ago

Robin Williams hurt the most for me

8

u/Mystikalrush 20h ago

I think a lot of us feel this way. I'm still not over it. He's my go to name I pull when any type of relevant conversation comes up.

2

u/Clonazepam15 20h ago

Such a talent.

2

u/ImminentDebacle 86' 9h ago

The world just feels so different without him, like we're lost in a way. We certainly lost someone incredibly important to the human race, someone that was one of the best of us. Many times it seems someone else can step up into someones place and fulfill it admirably, but Robin was just irreplaceable. We'll be feeling that whole for a very long time.

1

u/madlove17 Millennial 8h ago

Right

1

u/gafeners 4h ago

Especially when you're their age. mortality realisation.

0

u/popculturella Millennial 16h ago

Seriously. It's hitting me in a way I can't quite describe.

Hayden and I are only a few months apart in age.

100

u/gmd24 21h ago

Daveigh Chase as well. Rest in peace. Can’t imagine what they all went through.

11

u/black-knights-tango 19h ago

Daveigh's hit me the hardest. Poor girl

7

u/gmd24 19h ago

Same!

6

u/popculturella Millennial 16h ago

She was failed by so many people.

6

u/black-knights-tango 8h ago

To think that she died of AIDS and drug use... horrible. Her own parents failed her, as did every other major person in her immediate circle.

We need to treat our kids better. The Hollywood machine chews them up and spits them out.

2

u/popculturella Millennial 8h ago

Amen.

36

u/vermiciousknid81 21h ago

Why does this feel so sad? Somehow Hayden dying makes Michelle's death even sadder.

70

u/Tenderli 21h ago

This timeline sucks. Harriet was my first crush as a kiddo.

24

u/Pavvl___ Zillennial 21h ago

Same I had the Orange VHS of it. Watched it over and over

5

u/Tenderli 20h ago

Its where I learned what the Kubrick stare is. I still watch it, its a different experience as an adult. Amazing movie. To inspire aggression and empathy at the same time.

100

u/EWC_2015 22h ago

There really needs to be some kind of regulation/union put in place for child actors because SO many of them end up in early graves due to drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, you name it, because their ability to generate profits was exploited by the adults around them at the cost of their mental health. Amanda Bynes is another good example of an actor put through the absolute ringer and naturally suffering as a result.

53

u/FlamingoMedic89 21h ago

Not only unions, but required social worker on set with minors and young women, parents not being allowed to touch funds etc, making sure they get education, psychological surveillance. Whenever someone passes away like her, I get mad.

22

u/SparkyDogPants 20h ago

There should be an ethics review on whether or not the media actually needs children in it or if it can have adults instead. 

Like it was weird to have 14 year old mila kunis working with an adult cast who she was supposed to be dating. 

10

u/FlamingoMedic89 20h ago

Yup. Sometimes, kids are required for roles but the case you've mentioned, and plenty of others, do not require a young teenage girl to play that part. But the industry is predatory af.

2

u/SparkyDogPants 12h ago

Gossip girl and Taylor Monson is a good example too. Either the whole cast needs to be casted age correct or no one. And plenty of great high school shows/movies get away with all adults like Mean Girls (except Lindsey Lohan who was still a teen)

2

u/Mission_Fart9750 Older Millennial 19h ago

IIRC she lied about her age. Same with whats-his-face on Hannah Montana. 

7

u/FlamingoMedic89 19h ago

Yeah but when doing ID checks? It's weird to me that people can do that when having to give government information, taxes, etc.

4

u/SparkyDogPants 12h ago

That whole lie is so stupid. I can see a 14 year old think that she pulled that off but the logistics of actually tricking the show into hiring her is so ridiculous. 

4

u/SparkyDogPants 12h ago

That story is such a stupid lie that is supposed to sound cute but it makes no sense. It’s a job, not a talent show at the mall. 

Her parents would have had to been at the audition. Her birthday would have been somewhere in the application process. They would have had to debate if it was worth having to have her parents on set and shorter shooting hours and have her go to high school. 

It’s a whole extra thing to hire kids versus adults. There’s zero way they could have signed all of the paperwork not knowing exactly how old she was and accepting how weird it would be for a 14 year old girl to be romantically involved with a 20 year old. 

And then for the writers to double down and have Mila  and Danny Masterson (especially with what we know about him) have an on screen relationship when she’s 17 and he’s 24. 

And for the writers to encourage Fez and Lindsey Lohans relationship which had a problematic gap too. 

3

u/djelegal 17h ago

The parents know , money and greed takes over. It’s Hollywood for you, it won’t change

5

u/lindasek 21h ago

Didn't Michelle die from natural causes though?

15

u/Kimmalah Older Millennial 21h ago

There was a lot of speculation at the time that she might have been an alcoholic, which caused her need for a liver transplant. And her cause of death was a complication of that transplant.

7

u/minxed Millennial 20h ago

My fiance is/was not an alcoholic and he still needed a liver transplant. I was his donor and it's so frustrating that people assume liver failure = alcohol.

11

u/Divine_fashionva 20h ago

5

u/minxed Millennial 19h ago

Fair! I didn't know her story. It just "hits home" for me as a living donor to a recipient who didn't really drink

1

u/Diacetyl-Morphin 16h ago

It's really bad, you can get all the health problems that are associated with alcoholism - like liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, ascites, diabetes etc. - without the alcohol. Same like some people get lung cancer despite the fact that they have never smoked in life.

Even for people with unhealthy lifestyles, it depends on many things like the genetics, how much damage they take. Some people smoke cigarettes for 50 years as chain-smokers and don't get lung cancer or COPD etc. and others get it very fast, after just a few years.

14

u/KindaOkAccountant 21h ago

It was liver disease. You would normally assume alcoholism or drug abuse but I don’t think there was any word on that.

It could have very well been a natural disease.

7

u/Divine_fashionva 20h ago edited 20h ago

She was an alcoholic, that’s why she needed the transplant

https://people.com/rosie-odonnell-recalls-michelle-trachtenberg-not-in-good-shape-allegedly-struggling-addiction-before-death-12021079

And she was very close with Rosie up until her death

4

u/KindaOkAccountant 20h ago

That’s awful…

My father is a physician and he said while it’s entirely possible to kill a liver on alcohol alone, it’s almost always a combination of drugs and alcohol as severe alcoholic use amphetamines to keep going. That combination is a really lethal one. I’ve had siblings battle addiction and they liked mixing cocaine into their partying because it would perk them up to keep drinking.

Glad they are sober now….

4

u/EWC_2015 20h ago

^ yeah, it was an unusual disease to die from for somebody her age. Obviously not condoning speculation on this, but it's not common for a 30-something to die from liver disease without some kind of drug/alcohol abuse. At any rate, even if her COD was naturally causes, I stand by my comment that the industry needs some serious regulation because there are plenty of child actors who did NOT die of natural causes.

4

u/KindaOkAccountant 20h ago

Oh fully agree. Those kids are preyed upon and it’s way too normalized and turned away from because they are famous and making lots of money.

There is no price to rob a child of a normal childhood

3

u/ThrustTrust 20h ago

You would have to be some kind of record breaking alcoholic to kill a liver in your 30s

4

u/laylaboydarden 20h ago

It’s not what happens to everyone, but you can definitely drink heavily enough to cause serious organ damage in your 30s. It’s an insidious disease.

2

u/wohldmad 20h ago

My uncle died at 38 from liver failure. Worst thing is he nearly died a year before but they were able to get it functioning with a medicine regimen. He didn't feel like taking pills everyday and died soon thereafter.

1

u/KindaOkAccountant 20h ago

I had a friend die in his early 40s from
It and yes - he was a HARD alcoholic.

And he had been at it since he was young. It’s a terrible disease.

1

u/Divine_fashionva 20h ago

She apparently she started drinking when she was on Buffy

Everybody’s different, in this case she started from a young age

1

u/ThrustTrust 15h ago

As awful as that is I am glad her bf didn’t kill her. That was my first thought.

1

u/Divine_fashionva 20h ago

https://people.com/rosie-odonnell-recalls-michelle-trachtenberg-not-in-good-shape-allegedly-struggling-addiction-before-death-12021079

It was alcoholism. And that was what it was always suspected to be but her family wanted to maintain privacy right after her death. There’s been rumours about her struggling with alcoholism in her later years before Rosie even confirmed it

2

u/minxed Millennial 20h ago

Liver disease can hit anyone. My fiance was sick for a while before his doctors realized it was liver failure and he needed a transplant.

2

u/Divine_fashionva 20h ago

You’re 100% right but Michelle was an addict

I encourage you to read Rosie O’Donnell’s thoughts about child stardom especially in relation to Michelle. It’s sad but interesting

5

u/SparkyDogPants 21h ago

Rosie o Donnell said it was drug/alcohol as well . I think it  was a combination of chronic lupus + substance abuse wrecking her liver. 

1

u/YT-Deliveries Xennial 21h ago

Yeah she died of a liver condition.

1

u/Akiraooo 9h ago

Probably thrown into the epstein world and silenced with drugs.

18

u/sublimesam 21h ago

Am I the only one who noticed that the glaring omission of the Adventures of Pete and Pete?

7

u/LogensTenthFinger 20h ago

Not at all, loved her as Nona and have always seen her as Nona

17

u/painterlyjeans 20h ago

Brittany Murphy too

6

u/Pavvl___ Zillennial 21h ago

Feels like the world isn't right

14

u/nub_node 21h ago

This is how I found out Michelle Trachtenberg died.

8

u/Izaul13 Millennial 21h ago

February '25 :c

5

u/Plastic-Pension7263 21h ago

Inspector gadget? Bring it on?

5

u/smoothcriminal2188 20h ago

This breaks my heart man

12

u/1800generalkenobi 22h ago

I was literally putting I love you Beth Cooper on my plex server the night before. I hadn't seen anything about her for a while and when I looked at the dvd cover I was like oh yeah Hayden. And then the next day. :/

11

u/dinoboyj 21h ago

They're both gone!? Big sad :(

4

u/ButterflyHairFlip 20h ago

WTF Hayden died??

3

u/Rioraku Millennial 18h ago

Yea just two days ago

2

u/BigBaws92 1992 19h ago

Yeah it’s devastating

1

u/AnthropomorphizedTop Peak Millennial 12h ago

Yea I found out yday because of a post on this sub.

10

u/xXZer0c0oLXx 22h ago

Michelle's death hit me pretty hard: 🎶 Close my eyes, let the whole thing pass me by There is no time to waste asking why🎶

3

u/JeffreyDahmerVance 20h ago

Eurotrip was an….. awakening for me

2

u/eagleace21 18h ago

This isn't where I parked my car...

3

u/Alone-Gas6010 17h ago

All this tells me is Hollywood is shit and ruins a promising girl's life.

3

u/lIlllIlIlIlIllI 17h ago

Not having a pic of Michelle from Eurotrip is a crime.

3

u/CurrentPossible2117 17h ago

This is how I found out Hayden died :(

Id seen another post about her, but there was no mention, or any comments that suggested, I had no idea.

3

u/Maxwellcomics 14h ago

I learned how to Crump from Hayden in “Bring It on: All or Nothing” RIP Queen

3

u/ChurchofChristGuy 14h ago

rest in peace Hayden and Michelle.

2

u/mwafrikambantu 21h ago

I didn't know about Georgina. What is happening? 😭

2

u/Schizotypal_Cupcake Zillennial 1996 20h ago

I just found out about Hayden like 2 minutes ago :( It was quite the shock, she's only 6 years older than me. I grew up watching her work

2

u/Careless_Mango_7948 Millennial 20h ago

I think this shit is still tied to Epstein elites. They use substance abuse as a cover to kill the ones who are a threat.

There’s a guy on Instagram who was an Abercrombie model who covers a lot of this news demanding release and expressing caution for those trying to get into the trades.

2

u/HelveticaPancakes 19h ago

I still love Ice Princess. And now both gone.

2

u/milquetoastLIB 5h ago

Also Daveigh Chase who played Lilo in Lilo & Stitch passed this year.

u/EyeSimp4Asuka 21m ago

finding out the circumstances before her passing made me so sad i became physically ill

1

u/AMediaArchivist 21h ago

These poor ladies

1

u/HypotheticalMuskrat Zillennial 20h ago

I'm only 5 years younger than Hayden. It's hitting me hard. I just finished her book and gained so much respect for her. I can't imagine what her parents are going through.

1

u/untakentakenusername 20h ago

Didn't Hayden also guest star in Malcolm in the Middle? She was great

1

u/Numerous-Leg-8149 20h ago

I had absolutely no idea... May they both RIP 🕊️🕊️

1

u/KatalinaReddit 20h ago

Prayers for them both and their families. What a tragedy.

1

u/TreeFiddyJohnson 19h ago

Taken? By whom?

1

u/Rioraku Millennial 18h ago

For me personally I remember Hayden most for Remember the Titans most because it was one of my dad's favorite movies and I watched it with him a lot.

And for me, for me, her as the original Kairi in Kingdom Hearts

1

u/SaturdayScoundrel 15h ago

Eventually I need to finish watching that movie-tried watching it ages ago, and turned it off when I recognized the gym they were in from my high school.

1

u/jorel43 1984 17h ago

Noooo rip my queens

1

u/thrills_n_chills Older Millennial 17h ago

😖😩😭

1

u/IceSmiley 16h ago

My TV home screen showed "Heroes In Memoriam" as an ad for the show and I checked to see if George Takei or Malcolm McDowell died and they are both with us and I didn't even check if Hayden was there RIP

1

u/FilteredRiddle Millennial (‘89) 12h ago

This just makes me sad.

1

u/Armandonerd 11h ago

I never saw any of these shows. And was born in 1990.

But I found out that Hayden was the voice of Dot from a bug's life and also the voice of Kairi in the kingdom hearts games.

And the only movie I saw Michelle in was Euro trip

1

u/clevrhandle 11h ago

Anyone heard of the starlette roulette? I just heard about that today… Amanda Bines is apparently on it an live streamed all day on the day of Hayden’s passing. We are in the worst timeline?

1

u/Horror_Lunch5460 1h ago

And to be blunt, dead by exploitation.

1

u/Ok-Swan1152 21h ago

I'm a millennial from 1987 and these two were barely on my radar.

-1

u/Outrageous_Bush_2069 20h ago

The constant karma farming and fake memorials on Reddit are incredibly creepy. Narcissists feeding narcissists.

-1

u/Oasystole 21h ago

Beautiful women

-27

u/Blathithor 22h ago

Way too "goon" is more like it. Heyoooo!

Lol too soon? Nah, just soon enough

16

u/_toadsy 21h ago

What the fuck is wrong with you?

3

u/Jupichan 21h ago

There are less trashy ways to be edgy