Supermodel Cindy Crawford has spoken out for the first time following the tragic passing of her 27-year-old son, Presley Gerber. On Sunday, Crawford posted a moving message on social media, which was co-signed by her husband, Rande Gerber, and their daughter, Kaia Gerber. In it, they express the profound grief they are experiencing as they try to navigate this immense loss. “He is a sweet, beautiful soul who loved and is loved, now and forever,” the family shared, adding, “We are so proud of how he showed up in the world, with kindness and vulnerability.”
Kaia also shared her own heartfelt tribute to her brother. “I am, quite literally, down on my fucking knees,” she expressed on Instagram. Presley passed away in September at a rehabilitation center, and authorities are investigating the incident as a suspected overdose. In her post, Kaia included a nostalgic video of their childhood together, captioning it with, “I love you the bluest, to the moon and back and back again, forever big brother.”
She also shared a letter she wrote to Presley, expressing her struggle for words in the face of such sorrow. “Prez, I don’t have the words, and maybe the tiny mercy is that we didn’t need them all along. Words fail and words subtract and words summarize and words always lack truth. Perhaps it’s naive to think that language could transcend grief,” she wrote. She admitted, “I’ve read all of the books and I have none of the answers. My articulation is no match against this, the magnitude of losing you.”
Reflecting on their sibling bond, Kaia shared, “You know how much I loved being your sister. It has always been and will forever be my favorite thing about myself.” She conveyed the deep connection they had, saying, “I came into this world with a white-knuckle grip around you. I had more love for you than I knew what to do with. And now that it has nowhere obvious to go, I’m certain it’s going to swallow me whole.”
She reminisced about a specific memory, recalling how, when they were children, she was afraid to get her ears pierced, so Presley went first—something he always seemed to do. As she held the earring taken from him, she thought about how it belonged to him and expressed a painful wish that he hadn’t “gone first this time.” “I was born loving you. I will die loving you. There was never anything else,” she concluded her emotional post. Kaia ended with, “I am learning how to love you when I cannot see you. How to tell you something without picking up my phone to call you. How to be your sister in a world that I can’t reach for you in. I don’t know how to do that yet.”
