Entertainment News4 min(s) read
Presley Gerber gave a tragic update on his drug use just months before he died at the age of 27.
The son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman and Casamigos co-founder Rande Gerber died on Sunday, September 20, at a rehab facility.
"The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time," Cindy, Rande, and sister Kaia Gerber said in a statement.
A cause of death has not been disclosed.
Last December, Presley took to Instagram to detail what he described as "really scary" mental health struggles and his dependency on prescription medications.
At the time, the 26-year-old said he was taking different types of medication.
"Long story short, where I'm at currently, [four] classes of medications: blood pressure, opiate, benzo, anti-depressant, Xanax - when the panic attacks are really, really bad," he said, per Entertainment Tonight.
"The Valium I take a little bit in the morning or not… I don't know if it's a little or a lot."
He continued: "Anti-depressant wise...Prazosin, also used to treat night terrors and PTSD, and ketamine drips - I definitely use that more than I should. Sometimes, it's not in a clinical setting," he added.
Presley, who said he was sober at the time, said he wanted to wean himself off the drugs.
He also expressed frustration over what he described as a lack of clear guidance from doctors on how to safely reduce the medications he had been prescribed.
"Once you start taking them, if you don't take them, the quote unquote withdrawal from certain medications. But I'm just looking for a doctor that's going to actually help me taper," he said.
"Every psychiatrist I've had, and I've had like 15, they're all just like, 'Well, here's 20 medications.'"
"I'm just trying to hopefully find a good community of people that can be good influences on me as I've grown up in Hollywood," he added.
Four weeks after posting the video, Presley returned with another update and said he was cutting down on his medications while trying to keep himself stable.
"I am cutting down. So kind of got rid of the Xanax every day by a lot [and] take a tiny little bit - maybe once a week. So that's good," he said.
He also said he had started attending meetings and was focusing more closely on his health.
"Going to meetings which can be helpful. Yeah, just focusing on my overall health. There's a lot of us out here that feel odd around the holidays because you want to be your best self in front of your family," he added.
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Presley, who followed his mother into the modeling world and signed with IMG Models when he was just 15, was candid about his struggles with substance abuse.
The 26-year-old entered rehab as part of his recovery and underwent treatment involving the psychedelic ibogaine.
"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," he said on the Studio 22 podcast.
"[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," Presley 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."
He 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."
