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Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Sarah Michelle Gellar, who came to fame playing the fearless titular heroine on Buffy The Vampire Slayer for seven seasons hasn’t forgotten Buffy Summers. 

In fact, the 43-year-old actress wished the character a happy 40th birthday on Tuesday.

“I just realized that today is Buffy Summers 40 bday,” Gellar said on Instagram. “I can’t even believe that.”

The actress, who is married and has two children with Freddie Prinze Jr. added of her alter-ego, “She taught that the hardest thing in the world is to live in it. So in her honor let’s all be brave. Live.”

Referencing the COVID-19 lockdowns, Gellar said, “This may not be the way we are used to living our lives, but let’s find the beauty. So we can all live long and safely. For good measure, she added the hashtags “#happybirthdaybuffy”” and “#buffy40.”

Incidentally, the lockdown is what got her two kids — daughter Charlotte, 11, and son Rocky, 8 — “like so into” the show, which ran from 1997 to 2003.

Gellar admitted on the Kelly Clarkson Show this past fall, “I had never thought to show it to them,” noting they kept requesting to watch her earlier exploits.

She also joked that “my son finally thinks I’m cool.”

Incidentally, ABC Audio asked Gellar last year what she’d think of a reboot of the series. She said, “We left it open that any girl in the world ‘who had the power, should have the power, can have the power, will have the power.’ And I think that does leave it open to continue a story because that’s how it works right?”

However, she added, “Don’t *reboot* Buffy — if you want to continue the story of Buffy’s legacy, of The Slayers, of all of those – we’ve left that open for you.”  

By Stephen Iervolino
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