Just one month before Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford’s only son, Presley Gerber, died at the age of 27, sister Kaia Gerber opened up about his battles with drug addiction.
During an interview with Vogue, the model detailed how her brother’s “decade-long struggle with drug addiction” affected the family.
Kaia on Presley’s Battles
Kaia explained how Presley’s battles forced her to be more self-sufficient so as not to be a burden or stress on their parents.
“When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,” she told Vogue in August. “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.”
Kaia — who is Cindy and Rande’s only other child — added, “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.”
Presley was not shy about his battles with substance abuse and mental health issues. He shared in February 2023 during an appearance on the “Studio 22” podcast, that he hoped to help others suffering in similar ways.
“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 at the time. “That really what I want to do—help people, whether you’re depressed, you’re struggling with something that is having a negative effect on your body. I mean it could be anything, and there’s no judgment. I’ve seen a lot of stuff and I’ve learned a lot of things. What I hope I can do is have made the mistakes for other people, so they don’t have to make the same mistakes that I made.”
Presley’s Mental Health
In a since-deleted December 2025 Instagram post, Presley opened up about his history with drugs.
“I feel like honesty is the best policy,” Presley began, revealing that he’s been taking medications to treat his “panic attacks.” “The benzos have been fluctuating up and down depending on what’s been going on in my life. Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of loss in many different forms recently, so that is not an excuse, but it’s the reason why I am where I’m at now.”
He explained that doctors often prescribe medications with directions to take as needed, but Presley always needed “some direction” and less “leeway.”
“The doctors say a lot of different things, so it’s kind of scary, but hopefully between my research and their research … and God, we can figure this out,” he added. “The things that scare me are the things you need to take; if you don’t take them, something not good happens. And there’s a spectrum there on how intense the withdrawal from certain medications is.”
The 27-year-old model was receiving treatment at a rehab facility when he died on Sunday, September 20. TMZ, which was the first to report the news, received a statement from the family’s rep that read, “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”
