India, March 19 -- Mara Wilson penned an emotional tribute for her childhood friend, Michelle Trachtenberg, who died at 39 in late February. In the essay for Vulture, published Tuesday, the Matilda star revealed that the late Gossip Girl actress was bullied as a teen.

"Surely, I thought, she'd be one of the beloved girls in school. But that didn't happen. Every time I even heard someone say "Michelle Trachtenberg," a kid would jump in to say that they'd heard she was mean, full of herself, a total b***h," Wilson wrote in her essay titled, My cool friend Michelle.

The 37-year-old actress shared that back then, she would tell Trachtenberg's haters that "She's not [mean]," adding, "She's really nice!" Wilson revealed that during her first ...