The model died at age 27 at a rehab facility on Sunday, Sept. 20
Credit: Paul Archuleta/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Presley Gerber shared a vulnerable post about mental health months before his death at age 27
- The model — who is the son of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, and the brother of Kaia Gerber — died at a rehab facility on Sunday, Sept. 20
- He wrote in a post shared in November 2025, “It’s been a minute since I’ve posted — I had to step back and take care of my own mental health for a bit”
Presley Gerber opened up about men’s mental health in a vulnerable post just months before his death at age 27.
The model — who is the son of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, and the brother of Kaia Gerber — died at a rehab facility on Sunday, Sept. 20, according to Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records obtained by PEOPLE.
A representative for Presley’s loved ones also confirmed the news to PEOPLE, stating, “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time.”
Presley has spoken candidly about his mental health and addiction struggles through the years, sharing in an Instagram post in November 2025, “It’s been a minute since I’ve posted — I had to step back and take care of my own mental health for a bit.”
“But I’m coming back soon — stronger, clearer, more intentional than ever,” he wrote.
Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Presley continued at the time, “When I started Mental Health Mondays, the goal was to spark real conversations about the stuff most people hide. It’s been incredible seeing how far that message has spread and how many people it’s helped,” referring to the videos he often shared on Instagram.
He added, “I’m proud that something I created has inspired others and started a bigger movement around openness and healing,” concluding, “And with November being Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, the timing couldn’t be better to keep the conversation going.”
A few months later, in March 2026, Presley spoke about undergoing psychedelic drug treatment for his addiction struggles.
In one of his final social media posts prior to his death, Presley shared a video of himself before he underwent an “ibogaine flood dose.”
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychedelic that comes from the root bark of the Central West African shrub Tabernanthe iboga, which can help treat addiction, among other ailments, per Stanford Medicine. The treatment is legal in certain countries, but not in the United States.
“Quiet moment before everything changed,” Presley’s post included. “I was absolutely terrified, and I knew I would be again if I ever had to face something like this.”
“I knew why I was there. I faced what I had been running from, and somewhere in all of it, I started finding my way back to myself,” he added. “We shall see.”
Credit: Patrick McMullan via Getty
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Presley — born in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 1999 — previously said of his mental health on the Studio 22 podcast in 2023, “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.”
“[Mental health] is an issue. It is such a big part of my life. It’s a 24/7 job, and there’s so much to it,” he continued. “That’s 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.”
Presley added, “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 some other people, so they don’t have to make the same mistakes that I made.”
In a since-deleted Instagram video posted in December 2025, Presley had opened up about the several depressant medications he was on, including Buprenorphine, Xanax and Valium, to treat his “panic attacks.”
He shared at the time, “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,” adding that he wanted his video to reach “people in many ways.”
Presley’s sister, Kaia, 25, recently spoke about her brother’s drug use and mental health in the September 2026 issue of Vogue.
She said while discussing what the outlet called Presley’s “decade-long struggle with drug addiction,” “When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,” stating that she ended up putting her needs on the back burner.
“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,” she shared.
Kaia said seeing Presley be so open about his life was refreshing. “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,” she told the outlet. “And trying to put a lid on something just makes the person feel like you’re ashamed of them.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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