Actress Michelle Trachtenberg took to Instagram on Thursday to share a less than lovely memory about Valentine’s Day.
In her post, the actress, who began her career in the ’90s, appearing in projects like “Harriet the Spy” and “The Adventures of Pete & Pete,” remembered being the only one left out of the card exchange because of her status as a child star.
“No one ever gave me one and they thought I didn’t need the attention,” she wrote. “The kids and staff all laughed and thought everyone else should get one, being an actress since I was 3, apparently I didn’t need one.”
What her peers and teachers didn’t consider, she said, was that “I was helping my family pay bills.”
“This is challenging for me to post as people always contact me on social media saying, ‘Oh, my brother my sister went to school with you, you were best friends!’ False. The kids were cruel,” she said. “There is no need to harp on the past. But I still have scars from being thrown down stairs and slammed into lockers head first.”
Trachtenberg went on to have memorable roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl.”
“I write this to every child, teen, person, out there who is bullied,” she added. “You are something. Do not put your value in someone else. Not letting them win, is your win.”
She also thanked three teachers “who protected me and I think about to this day.”
“Thank you to you all,” she wrote.