Rosie O'Donnell on 'tragedy' of Michelle Trachtenberg's death: 'I tried to help her'

Rosie O’Donnell is still mourning the loss of Michelle Trachtenberg. O’Donnell and Trachtenberg starred together in the 1996 film "Harriet the Spy," with O’Donnell playing nanny to the young star. "It was a tragedy. 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 recently told Variety . O’Donnell recalled Trachtenberg being close with her mother, Lana, and a sister, calling them "a very loving family." "Then, you know, she got into drugs and alcohol, I believe, and then I lost touch with her," the 64-yer-old said. Trachtenberg’s official cause of death was determined to be complications from diabetes mellitus, but O’Donnell claims the actress had addiction issues. "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," the "A League of Their Own" star said. "We were supposed to see each other three or four times, and she just never showed up - sometimes at restaurants, other times at my house where we’d had someone prepare the whole meal. 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 said. O’Donnell continued, "I wish I could have done more. I tried to help her as much as I could, but she was inaccessible toward the end, and it was tragic." She compared the situation to the death 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." Houston struggled with addiction for years and died from an accidental drowning in 2012. O’Donnell feels empathy for both women, noting her own daughter has had addiction struggles. "It’s horrible and addiction has hit my family, too. I have a daughter who’s addicted. 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," she said. O’Donnell recently visited her daughter, Chelsea, in prison , where she has been maintaining sobriety. Follow us on Instagram @WeArePauseRewind for all your pop culture obsessions.