Model Kaia Gerber has publicly addressed the death of her brother, Presley Gerber, who died Sept. 20 at a rehabilitation facility in Santa Monica, California. He was 27.
Gerber, 25, shared a lengthy statement on social media Sunday, nearly a month after her brother’s death, along with a childhood photo and video of the two of them together.
“i don’t have the words,” she wrote, addressing “the magnitude of losing you.” She described her relationship with her brother as central to her identity, writing, “you know how much i loved being your sister. it has always been, and will forever be, my favorite thing about myself.”
“i came into this world with a white-knuckle grip around you,” she continued. “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 wrote that she is still “learning how to love [him] when [she] cannot see [him],” and said that despite the pain of loss, she would “choose it all over again. every second.”
“my darling brother, i do adore you. i love my brother. my brother is dead. and this party sucks so bad without you, prez.”
The same day, Kaia joined her parents, supermodel Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, in a joint statement posted to Crawford’s Instagram on Oct. 18.
“We are beyond heartbroken to lose our beloved son and brother. We feel so blessed to have had Presley in our lives for 27 years. He is a sweet, beautiful soul who loved and is loved, now and forever. We are so proud of how he showed up in the world, with kindness and vulnerability. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support from so many who know and love our family and even strangers who feel our pain. Til we meet again our sweet boy. We love you forever, Mom, Dad and Kaia.”
The statement ran alongside a black-and-white photo of Presley and credited photographer Sebastian Faena for the image.
Circumstances of the death
Presley Gerber died at a rehabilitation facility in Santa Monica, located in Los Angeles County. Sources previously told Page Six that he had checked himself into the facility just one day before he was pronounced dead, and a source told TMZ he “did not appear sober” upon admission.
No official cause of death has been released. However, 911 audio obtained by Page Six indicated Presley went into cardiac arrest and was being treated for a suspected overdose.
A family’s private struggle made public
In a May interview with People, before her brother’s death, Cindy Crawford had spoken about the closeness between her two children, saying, “Nothing makes, I think, a parent prouder than when your kids like each other and love each other.”
Kaia Gerber also discussed her brother’s struggles with addiction and mental health in a September cover story for Vogue, published before his death. “When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,” she said, adding that she had come to see herself as “the easy one” in the family because “it felt like too much to have two children who were needing.”
She said her parents were “very, very private” about Presley’s difficulties, but described her older brother as an “absolute teacher” and someone she looked up to.
A source close to the family told Page Six that Crawford has been “devastated” by the loss. “They were so close. What you saw online and in the press wasn’t just for that purpose. They were a tight-knit family and Kaia and Presley were more than just siblings,” the source said. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare, and the family is still trying to process everything that happened.”
