Hey, power to her. She's a successful, beautiful woman who has starred in a Whedon show. You simply can't beat that.

CowboyCliche | May 15, 11:37 CET

Wow, they told the principal on her! Sounds tough man, all those kids driven to suicide by psychological and physical torture look like wussies compared to multi millionaire Michelle Trachtenberg.

Vaughn | May 15, 12:53 CET

Well, it seemed harsh to her I guess, you can't really judge someone else's pain and if you're not used to it then any kind of verbal abuse can be pretty tough to take (maybe she was quite sheltered growing up ?).

(gotta say though, that sounds like a fairly normal day at school to me. Kids tease each other, sometimes affectionately, sometimes quite maliciously, and you can either take it/laugh it off, respond verbally or respond in a ... less measured way - the benefit of that being, you only really have to do it once ;)

Saje | May 15, 14:03 CET

Sounds like she didn't want to discuss her love life with them in her prior (linked) interview, so they set out to make her comments seem spoiled and shallow to punish her. I have no idea what she is actually like, but the blogger's bias and the self-important reason for it certainly shines through.

toast | May 15, 14:04 CET

That was a confusingly written article, and yes "tortured" seems a bit excessive.

escapist_dream | May 15, 15:38 CET

I dunno. High school is hell, after all. Any deviation from the norm -- like being famous, for example -- will be pounced upon and attacked.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | May 15, 17:24 CET

I always think it's kind of silly when they show beautiful girls who are "picked on" and disliked in TV high schools--it seems to me that all the girls who get picked on at my daughter's school are unattractive. But I suppose you could be right about the "anyone who's different" thing. (Don't remember any of this stuff from my own high school.)
But it is too easy to trivialize someone else's pain. (Because there's always someone worse off.) But as Neil Young says, "My problems may be meaningless, but that don't make 'em go away."

jcs | May 15, 17:53 CET

Grrrr Argh I hate that Georgina Sparks!!! (Why do all my shows have commercials for tampons and Noxzema?)

alexreager | May 15, 17:58 CET

You'd think playing high-school freshman on Buffy would give our "Dawnie" a clue. High school is always hell (no literal mouth required).

quantumac | May 15, 19:41 CET

Exactly, no better way to put it.

She is rocking on Gossip Girl! Her character brought a lot to the show, it was very slow before her arrival.

danielgm86 | May 15, 20:03 CET

This show has been a good career move for MT, giving her regular visibility and expanding her fan base. Reviews of her acting have generally been at least OK as well, and she actually seems to be improving her skills...

stevekaw | May 16, 01:12 CET

[accidental double post]

[ edited by LKW on 2008-05-16 01:52 ]

LKW | May 16, 04:50 CET

Yes, it certainly has raised her exposure, judging by the frequency she's shown up on E! News lately [there's not much on during its time slot, so I sometimes flip through], to the point of a camera crew filming her selecting her outfit for that red carpet event at the Met the other week.

My wife and I caught Gossip Girl for the first time this past Monday - and liked it surprisingly well. Certainly enough to catch the upcoming season finale, and probably enough to at least check out what the earlier episodes are like. And Michelle was very good... at being bad (as in wicked), as they say.

LKW | May 16, 04:50 CET

jcs said:



Actually, it's really not about beauty. Of course, if you haven't quite come into your own or truly are unfortunate looking, with petty enough people, that's ammo right there - and they'll use it. But it's more about your behavior, your personality. If it's different, in a setting where most people are immature and closeminded enough to decide that's reason enough to be cruel (and I'm not talking about a person with a vindictive personality being made fun of. I don't agree with fighting fire with fire, but if you're a horrible person...), you're kinda screwed, especially if you haven't developed (or just don't have) the fortitude to endure AND a core - even if small - group of friends that you can go to for support, love, and acceptance. Of course, if you're truly socially awkward, even with nice people who consider you a friend it's possibly to feel lonely and uncomfortable. This was basically my experience until high school (which was BRILLIANT - I lucked out).

At any rate, beauty doesn't make you popular and it certainly doesn't protect you against ridicule. It's more about attitude.

As for the article on Michelle? Talk about an unprofessional writing job. I know that you can always put a spin on a story, but the writer is unabashedly bitter about the fact that he got shut down after ignoring a not-so-subtle hint about her unwillingness to gossip (hurr hurr - sorry, had to poke fun at the pun). And quite frankly? The implied idea that a teacher being in agreement and sympathizing with a student who's socially outcast is an indicator that the student is nothing more than a whiny little teacher's pet is fundamentally wrong, and despite the ugly fact that petty people may see it that way, I get the feeling that the author's reaction is more than simply, "Yeah, the principal saw through the bull, but it unfortunately doesn't help the social situation." It felt more like he was in the group pointing fingers and yelling, "Teacher's pet!"

ShamelessSingingRennie | May 20, 00:16 CET