Presley Gerber spoke openly about his struggle to overcome addiction just six months before his death at a rehabilitation center, saying he was finally confronting what he had spent years “running from.”
The 27-year-old model shared video in March from a wellness clinic in Cancún, Mexico, where he participated in a spiritual ritual and prayer ceremony.
“Pre-ibogaine flood dose — quiet moment before everything changed,” Gerber wrote in the post.
“I was absolutely terrified, and I knew I would be again if I ever had to face something like this,” he continued. “It helps not to go into the situations you do that get you there, but that’s life sometimes. My mantras were ‘love yourself’ and ‘let this be the last time.’”
“Letting go of control didn’t come easily, but I trusted that something bigger than me was guiding the process. 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,” Gerber said.
“We shall see… Praying it’s the last time I have to come back. Next time I’d like to choose.”
Gerber, the only son of supermodel Cindy Crawford, also expressed gratitude to the “incredible, caring and kind” staff at the facility.
His sister, model Kaia Gerber, responded by saying she was “so damn proud” of her older brother.
“You are a warrior,” Crawford wrote.
“Walked through the fire to find yourself. So proud!”
“Love you, mama,” Gerber replied.
His father, Rande Gerber, also praised his son’s bravery, writing, “I’m so proud of you and your courage.”
“Facing what’s hard takes real strength, and watching you find your way back to yourself is everything. I love you so much,” he added.
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Gerber, who began modeling at 16 for Italian fashion brand Moschino, had turned to ibogaine, a psychoactive substance derived from the root bark of the West African shrub Tabernanthe iboga.
Ibogaine has been explored as a potential treatment for opioid addiction, while Stanford researchers have also studied its possible effects on traumatic brain injuries experienced by military veterans.
“No other drug has ever been able to alleviate the functional and neuropsychiatric symptoms of traumatic brain injury,” Nolan Williams, an associate professor of psychiatry, said in connection with a 2025 study.
Gerber was staying at an undisclosed rehabilitation facility when news of his death was announced Sunday. An autopsy has not yet been completed.
He had reportedly battled addiction for roughly a decade.
In 2024, Gerber disclosed that he had endured a severe, yearslong opioid addiction and survived a near-fatal fentanyl overdose that left him in a coma for several days.
The same year he also disclosed he was suffering from prescription medication dependency after seeing over 15 different psychiatrists who allegedly heavily medicated him without giving him a structured recovery direction.
Last December, he revealed in a now-deleted video how he used prescription medication such as antidepressants and Xanax for panic attacks, CNN reported.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of loss in many different forms recently,” he said.
“So that is not an excuse, but it’s the reason why I am where I’m at now.”
Just a month before his death, Kaia opened up about her brother’s battle with addiction.
“When something like that happens in a family, it kind of levels everyone,” she told Vogue.
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