Gossip Girl star Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away at the age of 39, reports state.

The actor was found having passed away earlier today at around 8:00am at One Columbus Place, police sources told The New York Post and ABC News.

The sources said her death is not being investigated as suspicious and it’s currently believed the 39-year-old died of natural causes.

Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away at the age of 39 (Getty Images/ Leon Bennett/WireImage)

An autopsy is expected to take place to determine the cause and manner of Trachtenberg’s passing.

LADbible Group has contacted NYPD and Michelle Trachtenberg’s representatives for comment.

Trachtenberg had her acting debut at the young age of three, appearing in Nickelodeon television series Adventures of Pete and Pete which aired from 1994 to 1996.

She appeared in several Nickelodeon productions before going on to star in 2004 release Eurotrip and later rose to fame for her roles in Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In the CW TV show Trachtenberg portrayed the role of Georgina Sparks and in the supernatural drama she took on the role of the titular character’s younger sister, Summer.

The role in the latter saw her nominated for three Saturn Awards and win a Young Artist Award.

Trachtenberg also voiceed the character of Judy Reilly in American adult animated comedy series Human Kind Of that premiered on Facebook Watch and starred in movies such as 2005’s Ice Princess and appeared in 17 Again (2009) alongside Zac Efron.

And fans of the star have flooded to social media to pay tribute and commemorate her.

Michelle Trachtenberg starred in Gossip Girl (The CW)

One Twitter user said: “RIP Georgina. What a legendary role.”

“39? That’s crazy. Such a beautiful and talented actress,” another added.

An Instagram user commented on Trachtenberg’s last Instagram post shared one week ago of her at a red carpet event.

The user wrote: “Rest in peace Michelle you crafted so many characters that many of us were connected to. You captivated us with unique stories. Thank you for sharing your life & talent with us. You’ll be missed big hugs to your family & friends. Although we’ll all miss you, we know their lives will be forever changed we’re so sorry for their loss and sending extra love to them at this time.”

And another resolved: “She was so young!!! Rest in peace we loved your movies growing up Ice Princess, 17 Again, Harriet The Spy.”

Her Gossip Girl co-star Ed Westwick has also reacted to the news. Writing on his story, the British actor said: “So sad to hear of the passing of @michelletrachtenberg sending prayers,” accompanied with a prayer emoji and a white heart.

Dozens of people have died from an unknown disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As of February 15, it was reported that 53 people have died from the mysterious illness in the country’s northwestern Équateur Province.

Some of the deaths have occurred within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

It said that, since January, there’s been over 400 cases of people suffering from fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches, and fatigue.

With this in mind, the unknown disease ‘poses a significant public health threat’, the WHO warned.

The WHO has issued a stark warning about an outbreak in the Congo (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The WHO went on to say in a bulletin released on February 16: “The exact cause remains unknown, with Ebola and Marburg already ruled out, raising concerns about a severe infectious or toxic agent.

“Key challenges include the rapid progression of the disease, with nearly half of the deaths occurring within 48 hours of symptom onset in one of the affected health zones, and an exceptionally high case fatality rate in another.”

“Urgent action is needed to accelerate laboratory investigations, improve case management and isolation capacities, and strengthen surveillance and risk communication,” it went on.

“The remote location and weak healthcare infrastructure increase the risk of further spread, requiring immediate high-level intervention to contain the outbreak.”

The disease is affecting people in a northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Getty Stock)

The outbreak has affected two communities in particular in the Équateur Province — Bomate and Boloko.

The latest outbreak in Bomate Village was initially reported to provincial health authorities on February 9, while the cluster of cases that took place in the Boloko village were first reported on January 21.

Investigations traced the disease back to three community deaths among children under five years old. Reportedly the children in question had consumed a bat carcass prior to onset of signs and symptoms.

There’s been over 400 reported cases (World Health Organization)

Speaking about the prospect of the disease being new, Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in Britain, said, as per Washington Post: “A genuinely new illness, as we saw with covid-19, of course can happen but is very rare.

“Usually, it’s a bug that we know about but haven’t yet diagnosed in that particular outbreak.”

To determine what the disease is, the WHO says that ‘metagenomic sequencing and additional investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of illness and deaths in the two health zones’ — those zones being the Bolomba Health Zone and Basankusu Health Zone where the two affected villages are located.

A petition to revoke Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship has received over 250,000 signatures amid his continued involvement with the Trump administration.

Within the 47th POTUS’ government, Musk heads up the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with cutting federal costs, modernizing federal technology, ending fraud and a waste of taxpayer money while improving overall governmental productivity.

It appears the Twitter owner’s association with Trump has sparked the petition, with the president planning to levy a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian imports next month.

Speaking shorty before the hiked tariffs were detailed earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response.”

A petition has been launched to revoke Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

As a response, Canada is imposing 25 percent tariffs on CA $155 billion of US goods.

Trudeau explained: “It will have real consequences for you, the American people. The actions taken by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together.”

Now, a petition calling for Musk’s Canadian citizenship to be revoked has gained massive traction amid his close relationship with President Trump.

“Elon Musk has engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada,” the petition claims. “He has used his wealth and power to influence our elections.”

It adds: “He has now become a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty; and the attempts of Elon Musk to attack Canadian sovereignty must be addressed.

“We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Prime Minister to revoke Elon Musk’s dual citizenship status, and revoke his Canadian passport effective immediately.”

In a now deleted Twitter post, the Tesla CEO claimed that Canada is ‘not a real country’ after he obtained a Canadian passport through his mother, who was born there.

Musk, who was born in South Africa, also holds US citizenship.

Musk has citizenship through his mother (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Qualia Reed, the petition’s creator, penned on Bluesky: “To (be) clear, this action I started, and all of you are spreading and growing, isn’t about personal attacks.

“It’s about ensuring that those who influence global policies and industries know that the people are not okay with their lack of ethical responsibility.”

However, even if the Canadian government wanted to revoke Musk’s citizenship, it would have problems doing so.

Audrey Macklin, a law professor at the University of Toronto, told CNN: “Canada does not revoke citizenship that is lawfully obtained. This means that there is actually no way of revoking Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship, unless he obtained it by fraud or misrepresentation.”

The White House has made a controversial new change to who can report on President Trump.

For decades, the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has been responsible for creating a pool of journalists and news organizations that were able to access the president for press purposes.

But this is all set to change as the White House will now decide which news outlets can regularly cover the POTUS.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the changes would rotate traditional outlets from the group and include some streaming services.

She cast the change as a modernization of the press pool, saying the move would be more inclusive and restore ‘access back to the American people’ who elected Trump.

“Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team,” Leavitt said at a daily briefing yesterday (February 25).

“A select group of DC-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly of press access at the White House.”

Her announcement came after the Trump administration won a temporary ruling that prohibits Associated Press (AP) from accessing many presidential events as a result of the news outlet refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its new name, Gulf of America.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the announcement yesterday (NBC News)

After being banned from the events, AP sued Leavitt and two other White House officials, citing the First Amendment.

But US District Judge Trevor N McFadden said that AP had not demonstrated it had suffered irreparable harm.

He urged the Trump administration to reconsider its two-week-old ban, however, saying that case law in the circuit ‘is uniformly unhelpful to the White House’.

Judge McFadden’s decision is only temporary, and he told lawyers for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling.

Another hearing was scheduled for late March.

The Trump administration took issue with AP for not calling the Gulf of Mexico by its new name (LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The WHCA has since reacted to the White House’s plans to take over its job to create a press pool — and it’s safe to say it’s not in favor of the change.

The organization’s president, Eugene Daniels, said, as per The Guardian: “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.

“For generations, the working journalists elected to lead the White House Correspondents’ Association board have consistently expanded the WHCA’s membership and its pool rotations to facilitate the inclusion of new and emerging outlets.”

The Bishop of Washington, who called out Donald Trump regarding his rhetoric surrounding migrants and those in the LGBTQ community, has returned to social media with a new message.

After becoming president, Donald Trump wasted no time in signing off on new executive orders, perhaps most controversially, a policy stating there are ‘only two genders’ alongside many orders blocking migrants from being able to enter – and remain in – the country.

After this move, Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde decided to call this out during a service held on January 21 at the Washington National Cathedral when Trump was in attendance.

This resulted in a furious backlash on social media by some individuals with others defending the bishop, insisting she had not been unreasonable in her request of ‘mercy’.

Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde issued a ‘plea’ to President Donald Trump (CBS News)

In her initial ‘plea’, she said: “Mr President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God.

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.

“And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants… they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”

Following the service, Trump branded it ‘not too exciting’ and he ‘didn’t think it was a good service’, concluding: “They could do much better.”

Bishop Mariann later responded to Trump’s comment, telling CNN: “I wanted to counter, as gently as I could, with a reminder of their humanity and their place in our wider community.”

And now, posting on Instagram for the first time since November 2024, she has thanked all those that defended her and encouraged people to be brave, kind and support one another.

In the video, shared yesterday (February 25), Bishop Mariann said: “Hi friends, it is Bishop Mariann here. I stepped away from social media for a time but I wanted to step back in to say thank you.

“I cannot tell you how much it’s meant to me to receive the letters and phone calls and notes and gifts and expressions of gratitude, support and encouragement

“I am persuaded that there is a spirit of love and goodness in this land that flows through all of us and now is a time for us to stand together, to take courage from one another and learn together how we are to be brave now and hold on to the things that are good about us and about our country.

In her new message, the bishop sat in front of a pile of fan mail she had received (Instagram/@mariannbudde)

“We can do this especially when we remember that we are never alone and that when one of us falters we are hundred others that are standing strong.

“Sometimes we stand strong for the sake of those that can’t and that together God will work through us to bring about the kind of society, the kind of community that we all deserve and that we want to pass on to those who come after us.

“Take good care, have courage and remember together we can all be brave.”

The caption of Bishop Mariann’s post told her followers there was ‘more to come’.

New details about news reporter Adan Manzano’s death have been revealed after he passed away earlier this month aged 27.

Earlier this month, the news anchor was found dead in his New Orleans hotel room just days before he was due to cover this year’s Super Bowl.

In a tribute after his passing, Manzano was described as ‘an exceptional professional and a rising star whose dedication and talent reflected excellence in his work’.

The 27-year-old’s unexpected passing was quickly followed with a woman being arrested in connection with his death.

A woman named Danette Colbert — who has reportedly earned herself the nickname of ‘Bourbon Street Hustler’ — has been charged with fraud and theft after allegedly using Manzano’s credit card.

Colbert is accused of luring Manzano into a hotel room, New York Post reports. The pair were seen together on hotel CCTV footage, which was the last known footage of the sports anchor before he died.

Colbert has since confirmed that she was the woman in the video with Manzano. She denied using his credit card, however.

Now, as the investigation into Manzano’s death continues, police have revealed that the reporter was found to have Xanax in his system from a preliminary toxicology results.

Danette Colbert has been charged in connection to Manzano’s death (Kenner Police)

Kenner Police Detective Jeffrey Fritzmorris made the revelation during a bond hearing for Colbert yesterday (February 25).

Fritzmorris added that Manzano was not prescribed Xanax prior to his death and that it is unclear how or when he ingested the drug. Colbert’s home was alleged to have drugs in it, but her attorney argued that it doesn’t mean she supplied them to Manzano and that anyone could have given them to him.

The attorney further noted that CCTV footage doesn’t show who gave the late news reporter the drugs that have been found in his system.

It was also in Colbert’s home that police discovered Manzano’s stolen phone and credit card.

Adan Manzano was just 27 years old (Facebook/ Adan Manzano)

A judge has denied Colbert bond and dubbed her a flight risk, KCTV 5 said.

Manzano’s death follows his wife Ashleigh Boyd’s death last year.

Boyd tragically died at the age of 24 in April 2024 following a car accident.

Both she and Manzano are survived by their young daughter, Eleanor.

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence,