Presley

Last morning, I opened Instagram. While scrolling through my feed, I saw the news, "Presley Gerber, model son of famous supermodel Cindy Crawford and brother of supermodel Kaia Gerber dies. The cause of death is not listed. The family has asked for privacy". As soon as I read the news, tears started to flow. I did not know why, but it felt like a personal loss.

I remember being a school girl watching the TV commercial of Cindy Crawford. I remember being mesmerized by her screen presence. While mist models would look as if they belong to a different glamorous world, I felt Cindy looked like a girl bext door. She looked like an ordinary woman but better.

Then I remember watching the summer spring collection of a reputed label. I saw a male model walking on the ramp. Looking at his face, I knew he was Cindy Crawford's son - the same face, same bone structure, and the signature mole around the lips. I found out that he indeed was her son. His name was Presley Gerber.

Just like his mother, Presley too had a great screen presence, confidence, and immaculate grace. He walked on the ramp as if he owned it. Even whimsical collection would still look good on him. But I noticed something in his brief appearances - his eyes always looked sad.

I felt as if I was with Presley on his journey. Being born in a wealthy and influencial family, opened a lot of doors of opportunities for him. But there were perils too. I watched a lot of his interviews where he mentioned he had been struggling with mental health. I could not understand that. I used to feel that if any person is wealthy and good looking they will be blessed with everything in the world. But that was not true and Presley made me realise that.

Presley was privileged yet he was struggling to get help. With his every appearance and social media post I could see that the sadness in his eyes kept growing. What I liked about him was that instead of concealing it, he openly spoke about his struggles. He expressed how he was struggling while accepting the privileges he had. To me Presley appeared as a grounded young man who needed love and help. When he mentioned that he being the problem child puts a lot of pressure on his sister Kaia, it broke my heart. It was heartbreaking to see that even in his struggles he was thinking about his family, especially about his sister. It made me tear up when he mentioned that he felt guilty for grabbing attention of their parents because of his issues and Kaia had to act mature in addition to managing everything on her own during the crucial growth years.

Now that Presley is gone, his struggles appear more like a monster. A monster that consumed a young mind. It is disheartening for me to see young people being destroyed because of mental health struggles. I wish peace and healing for Presley. I wish Gerber family finds the strength to cope up with their unimaginable loss.