Kaia Gerber And Cindy Crawford Broke Their Silence On Presley Gerber's Death With Heartbreaking Statements
by Leyla Mohammed · BuzzFeedPosted on Oct 19, 2026 UTC
This post discusses substance misuse.
Last month, news broke that Presley Gerber, son of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, had died at age 27.
Like his sister, Kaia Gerber, and their mom, Presley was known for his modeling work, having been signed by IMG Models at just 15 years old. He also used his platform to discuss his struggles with substance misuse.
According to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records obtained by People, Presley died at a rehab facility on Sept. 20. His official cause of death has not yet been publicly shared.
In the wake of the news, a representative for Cindy, Rande, and Kaia said in a statement to People, “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”
Now, the family have shared their first personal statements on their social media pages.
In an emotional post shared by Rande and Cindy, the family said, “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 added.
Meanwhile, Kaia shared a lengthy message of her own to her Instagram page. “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. and how naive of me to believe that language could transcend grief,” she began next to heartwarming footage of her and Presley as kids.
“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. i am, quite literally, down on my fucking knees,” she wrote. “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. 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. you believed - always believed - in people. you met cruelty not with anger, but with confusion. and curiosity. you believed people were inherently good because, presley, you are inherently good. and somehow, through all of it, i got to be your sister, your lucky eternal witness, watching you do the most hard-core, heavy metal thing anyone can do: you stayed soft.”
Kaia went on to describe Presley as her “ultimate teacher,” later adding, “to say loving you was the easiest thing in the world would imply that it required any effort at all. i was born loving you. i will die loving you. there was never anything else.”
“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,” she wrote. “you missed our date. i forgive you. keep a place for me in the meantime. because, presley, even knowing where it ends, i would choose it all over again. every second. i would walk knowingly toward this grief if it meant that on the other side of it i got to be your sister.”