Cindy Crawford’s Son Presley Gerber Reveals Lasting Teenage Trauma

Presley Gerber was only 15 when he entered the spotlight, following his supermodel mother Cindy Crawford onto the runway and securing campaigns with brands including Calvin Klein and Dolce & Gabbana.

However, the demands of sudden fame became overwhelming for the only son of Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber. After just a few years, he walked away from modeling.

Behind the scenes, Presley was already battling mental-health struggles and felt he “didn’t ever think he was enough,” a source told the Daily Mail. Around the same period, he also began turning to hard drugs.

Presley hoped to build a life beyond the industry that had made his family famous. At different points, he considered becoming a photographer or pursuing a career in real estate.

“He wanted to find his own path, away from his famous parents,” a source told the Daily Mail. “He wanted a career that was all his that he was proud of.”

Earlier this year, he had also begun considering training to become a professional therapist.

Those ambitions never fully took shape. Presley continued struggling to find direction before his shock death from a suspected overdose on Sunday, aged 27, inside the Resolutions Living rehabilitation home in Santa Monica, California.

Before making his teenage runway debut, Presley was known for his broad smile and relaxed Malibu style. Over the years, however, his transformation was stark: he tattooed the word “misunderstood” across his face and received a DUI in 2018.

“There’s something to be said about when I started working, which was like around the age of 14 and I started traveling and I stopped doing like all [sports],” Presley said on Instagram in March this year.

“What I’m trying to say is the less activity that was in my life, especially for me in the ocean, like the more medication I found having to be integrated into my life, [my] quality of life rapidly decreased with the decrease in natural endorphins and dopamine.”

He went on to acknowledge that he felt he “had to start making money, I had to start, I got a job.”

“It wasn’t that he didn’t try. He just couldn’t seem to handle the pressure of being born into a famous family. He always felt he was being judged by outsiders,” a source previously told the Daily Mail.

After stepping away from modeling, Presley tried to work out what might bring him happiness, but he found little success.

“Presley really struggled to find his place in the world, but he was lost,” said a source close to the Gerber family.

“He had ADHD so it was hard for him to focus, it was a challenge sometimes to process his thoughts.

“He said he was always learning from his experiences, but he couldn’t get to a place where he felt confident enough to have a solid career.

“He was also very reflective and into talking about mental health. Real estate agents are not like that, they go to parties and drink and live the high life, they throw soirees, take people to fancy dinners, make small talk. They don’t sit at home and talk about staying sober. It just wasn’t a match.”

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And then there was the issue of his image.

‘You can’t sell a $20 million mansion when you have a tattoo of a marijuana leaf on your hand. Wealthy people don’t like that,’ the source said bluntly.

There was also a real worry among loved ones that he was starting to resemble Aaron Carter, the dashing blonde singer who drowned after taking sedatives in 2022 at the age of 34.

‘There was worry from the family that Presley was headed down Aaron’s path, sure, and there was a big fear his drugs could be laced with Fentanyl,’ said the source. 

In his last months, Presley told friends he was happy with how popular his candid social media posts about mental health had become.

‘He did talk this year about becoming an addiction counselor so he could help other people, that was important to him and made him feel good,’ said our source.

‘He was into psychology and what makes people depressed. He wanted to heal people and have real conversations.’

But his lack of education was a serious hindrance. 

‘He was very smart, but he never went to high school really, though he got his diploma. He studied while he was modeling, so he kind of just got it done,’ the source said.

‘And he never went to college. So it was a long road ahead for him to become a therapist.’

To become a professional therapist, he would have had to complete four years of college and then a master’s degree.

‘Kids like Presley, who already have so much money, don’t usually take six years out of their life to study psychology to end up earning $100,000 a year as a therapist. They like to have fun,’ said the source.

The Daily Mail has contacted a representative for Crawford for comment. 

Presley was found dead in a bedroom of a Santa Monica rehab on Sunday. 

According to a police statement, officers ‘responded to a report of a possible overdose’ at approximately 9.35am on September 20. ‘At this time, there is no indication of foul play.’

His cause of death has not yet been revealed.