Kaia Gerber Shares A Heartbreaking Tribute To Brother Presley: “You Always Went First”

Kaia Gerber has shared a beautiful, devastating tribute to her brother Presley, who died September 20 at 27 . Their mother, Cindy Crawford , also posted her first statement since her son’s passing. Addressing her brother as “prez,” Kaia described being his sister as her favorite thing about herself: “you know how much i loved being your sister. it has always been, and will forever be, my favorite thing about myself. i came into this world with a white-knuckle grip around you. i had more love for you than i knew what to do with, and now that it has nowhere obvious to go, i’m certain it’s going to swallow me whole.” Remembering his gentleness, she continued: “you believed - always believed - in people. you met cruelty not with anger, but with confusion. and curiosity.” “and somehow, through all of it, i got to be your sister, your lucky eternal witness, watching you do the most hard-core, heavy metal thing anyone can do: you stayed soft.” One of the letter’s most heartbreaking passages recalled a childhood memory: “and i keep thinking about how when we were little, i got scared before getting my ears pierced, so you went first. “you always went first. “but when i held the earring they took from your body, all i could think was: that belongs to you. “and i really wish you hadn’t gone first this time.” Kaia also wrote about learning to live with his absence: “i am learning how to love you when i cannot see you. how to tell you something without picking up my phone to call you. how to be your sister in a world that i can’t reach for you in. “i don’t know how to do that yet.” Even knowing the pain that would follow, she said she would choose their time together again: “because, presley, even knowing where it ends, i would choose it all over again. every second. i would walk knowingly toward this grief if it meant that on the other side of it i got to be your sister.” In her own post, Crawford shared a black-and-white photograph of Presley with wings and a message signed “Mom, Dad and Kaia”: “We are beyond heartbroken to lose our beloved son and brother. We feel so blessed to have had Presley in our lives for 27 years. He is a sweet, beautiful soul who loved and is loved, now and forever. We are so proud of how he showed up in the world, with kindness and vulnerability. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support from so many who know and love our family and even strangers who feel our pain. Til we meet again our sweet boy. We love you forever, Mom, Dad and Kaia 🪽” Kaia’s letter offered its own expression of that enduring love: “to say loving you was the easiest thing in the world would imply that it required any effort at all. i was born loving you. i will die loving you. there was never anything else.” Pray for Kaia Gerber, Cindy Crawford, and their family.