Presley Gerber, the 27-year-old son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber, died Sunday at a rehabilitation facility after what his family described as years of addiction and mental health struggles.
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records confirmed Gerber's death at the facility, Fox News Digital reported. An autopsy has not yet been completed, and no cause of death has been released. A representative for Crawford issued a brief statement on behalf of the family: "The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time."
Gerber's death came after what Vogue, in an August 2026 cover story featuring his younger sister Kaia Gerber, described as a decade-long struggle with drug addiction. He was 27, the same age that has claimed a grim roster of musicians and artists over the decades, though Gerber's battle played out not on stages but on social media and in rehab centers.
Presley Gerber signed with IMG Models at age 15, stepping into the fashion world with a famous last name and the kind of access most aspiring models never see. He made his runway debut at Moschino's show in Los Angeles in 2016 and went on to star in campaigns for Calvin Klein and Celine and walk for Dolce & Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger.
But the glossy career arc fractured early. In 2019, Gerber was charged with a DUI. By December 2025, he was posting, and then deleting, raw Instagram videos in which he discussed the medications he was taking, including Xanax, Valium, and buprenorphine, a drug commonly used to treat opioid dependence. He spoke about panic attacks and recovery.
In one of those videos, as People magazine reported, Gerber laid out why he was sharing his struggles publicly:
"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 said he wanted others to know they weren't alone. "That is how I feel most of the time," he said, adding that he hoped to find people "willing to help or know someone that could help."
Nearly three years earlier, in a February 2023 appearance on the Studio 22 podcast, Gerber had spoken in similar terms about his mental health battles:
"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."
Gerber's sister Kaia, 24, a model and actress in her own right, opened up about the toll her brother's addiction took on the family in the Vogue cover story published in August 2026, just weeks before his death. She described the way addiction reshapes an entire household, not just the person using.
"When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone."
Kaia said she began identifying as "the easy one" in the family and stopped asking for help herself. "Because it felt like too much to have two children who were needing," she told the magazine. The comment hinted at a dynamic familiar to millions of families dealing with a loved one's addiction, the siblings and parents who quietly absorb the chaos and put their own needs aside.
She also described a shift in how the family handled Presley's struggles publicly. Crawford and Rande Gerber had long been intensely private, Kaia said, but Presley forced a kind of openness they hadn't chosen.
"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."
The specific rehabilitation facility where Gerber died has not been publicly identified. Just The News confirmed the death occurred in Los Angeles, consistent with the Medical Examiner's jurisdiction. Whether Gerber entered the facility voluntarily, how long he had been there, and what substances or circumstances contributed to his death all remain unknown pending the autopsy.
The nature of the "loss in many different forms" that Gerber referenced in his December 2025 video has not been publicly explained. Nor is it clear what level of treatment he was receiving at the time of his death.
Gerber's willingness to talk openly about addiction, even when the videos were later deleted, stood in contrast to the polished image the fashion world typically demands of its talent. He named specific controlled substances on camera. He described panic attacks. He asked for help in public, from strangers, because the private channels apparently weren't enough.
That kind of honesty is rare in any world. It was not enough to save him. And for the millions of American families watching a loved one cycle through rehab, relapse, and loss, the Gerber family's grief will feel painfully familiar, proof that addiction does not care about fame, money, or access to the best treatment available.
