Cindy Crawford once spoke about the devastating loss of her younger brother and the pain of losing a child, more than a decade before the death of her own son, Presley Gerber.
In a 2010 interview with the Mirror, the supermodel reflected on her childhood and the impact her brother Jeffrey’s death had on her family. Jeffrey died from leukemia at age 4, two years after being diagnosed with the blood cancer.
Crawford Opened Up About the Heartbreak
Crawford said watching her mother, Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf, cope with the loss helped shape the way she viewed grief and resilience.
“Growing up, I sometimes felt she should have been angry or outraged and she wasn’t,” Crawford said.
Her mother also experienced other major changes during that period, including the end of her marriage to Crawford’s father, John Crawford.
“She had a son that died. My dad [John Crawford] had an affair and they divorced. Those were painful things for her but they didn’t take away from her light as a person,” Crawford said.
Becoming a mother herself later gave Crawford a different perspective on what her own mother had endured.
“Now I’m a mom myself, I’ve really come to appreciate her outlook on life. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child,” she said.
Crawford, now 60, is facing that unimaginable loss herself following the death of Presley, her only son, at age 27.
News of Presley’s death surfaced Sunday after he died at a rehabilitation facility in Santa Monica, California. The circumstances surrounding his death remain under investigation.
Outlets reported that Santa Monica Police Department officers responded to the facility on Sept. 20, with sources telling the outlet that Presley had entered the facility for treatment that same weekend.
Reports have cited a suspected drug overdose as the cause of death, although an official cause has not been publicly established.
Presley had previously spoken openly about his mental health and struggles with substance abuse. In a previous podcast appearance, he discussed his desire to use his experiences to help other people facing similar difficulties.
Crawford Is Reportedly Struggling Since Her Son’s Passing
Following his death, sources described Crawford as devastated by the loss.
“They were so close,” a source told Page Six. “What you saw online and in the press wasn’t just for that purpose. They were a tight-knit family and [sister] Kaia and Presley were more than just siblings. Cindy has to be beyond gutted.”
A second source told the outlet, “Cindy is inconsolable. She’s absolutely devastated. This is every parent’s worst nightmare, and the family is still trying to process everything.”
Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber, also share daughter Kaia, 25, who followed her mother into modeling.
A representative for the family previously asked for privacy following Presley’s death, telling outlets that the family was requesting “privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”
More than a decade after Crawford reflected on the loss that shaped her own childhood, she is now confronting the kind of grief she once said she could not imagine.
