Presley Gerber, son of Cindy Crawford & Rande Gerber, passed away at 27 years old

Gosh, this is sad. Presley Gerber has passed away at the age of 27. Presley Gerber was the only son of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, and Presley is survived by his parents and his younger sister Kaia Gerber. Presley has struggled with addiction for years, but recently, he sought treatment and seemingly turned a corner. Reportedly, he passed away in a treatment center.

Presley Gerber has died. He was 27.

Presley died on Sunday, Sept. 20, at a rehab facility, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records obtained by PEOPLE. TMZ was first to report the news.

A representative for Presley’s mother, Cindy Crawford; father, Rande Gerber and sister, Kaia Gerber, tells PEOPLE, “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”

An autopsy has yet to be completed, TMZ reported.

Presley was the son of model Crawford and Rande, a businessman. He was also the brother of model and actress Kaia.

Born in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 1999, Presley was a model himself. He was charged with a DUI in December 2019, and in 2020, he got a tattoo on his face that read, “MISUNDERSTOOD.” (A year later, he appeared to have had it removed.)

Before his death, Gerber began opening up about his struggles with mental health and substance abuse.

“Having struggled with mental health, depression and some other things that come along with that, I think that whether I help one person or a hundred people get out of that place that I was in at one point in my life, that’s all I need to do,” he said on the Studio 22 podcast.

[From People]

This is so sad. I cannot even imagine what Cindy, Rande and Kaia are going through right now. My thoughts and prayers are with them, and I hope they press this rehab facility and ask for an autopsy, because… my god. I recently thought about Presley because of Kaia’s September Vogue cover profile. Vogue asked her about her big brother, and she said this:

Her older brother Presley Gerber’s decade-long struggle with drug addiction appears to have provided a sort of foil as Kaia was discovering who she was. “When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,” she explains. “I think that’s also why I started to self-​identify as the easy one and never wanted to ask for help. Because it felt like too much to have two children who were needing.” Last December, Presley opened up about his struggles in an Instagram video. Kaia, who has pursued multiple therapeutic modalities and is a champion of psychedelic therapy, in particular, is deeply proud of him. “My parents for most of our lives were very, very private and didn’t share anything—and now we have this absolute teacher, my brother, who says, ‘I’m gonna be very human for everyone.’ There’s only so much you can hide from the world. And trying to put a lid on something just makes the person feel like you’re ashamed of them.”

[From Vogue]

It struck me, at the time and even moreso now, as such a mature and human way for a younger sister to talk about her brother’s addiction and how the family changed because of it. It’s tremendously sad.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.