George Clooney reportedly tried to be a steady presence in Presley Gerber’s life long before the 27-year-old model’s death brought new attention to the close relationship between their families.
Clooney, a longtime friend and former business partner of Presley’s father, Rande Gerber, would spend hours talking with Presley and later sent him messages reminding him that he was there for him, sources told the Daily Mail. Presley and his sister, Kaia Gerber, knew the actor as “Uncle George,” according to Page Six.
The conversations reportedly became especially pointed after Presley was arrested on suspicion of DUI in late 2018. Clooney cautioned him to be careful, while more recent notes were described as warmer reminders that Presley still had someone he could turn to.
Presley died on Sept. 20 at age 27 while at a rehabilitation facility in Santa Monica. Police are investigating the death as a suspected overdose, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has not determined an official cause or manner of death. An autopsy was completed Sept. 21, with additional testing still pending, according to People.
Clooney Reportedly Kept Checking In on Presley
“They were close. Presley was more than just a friend’s kid, they had a bond,” one source told the Daily Mail, as reported by The Daily Beast. Another source said Clooney “would spend hours talking to Presley” and would do anything he could to help Rande’s family.
His advice was sometimes blunt. Presley was arrested in Beverly Hills on Dec. 30, 2018, after police stopped him while he was driving and later faced a misdemeanor DUI case. He pleaded no contest in 2019 to driving with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or higher and received three years of probation, a DUI program and community service.
After that arrest, Clooney reportedly urged Presley not to repeat the behavior and to be careful. More recently, a source said Clooney sent supportive messages along the lines of “I am here for you”.
The Clooneys and Gerbers Had Been Close for Decades
George Clooney and Rande Gerber’s friendship began long before they became business partners. Gerber previously told Entertainment Tonight that they met more than two decades ago when Clooney was working on a movie in New York and Gerber owned a bar the actor frequented. The two bonded over drinks and eventually became close friends.
Years later, Clooney, Gerber and Mike Meldman co-founded Casamigos. The tequila company launched commercially in 2013 before being sold to Diageo in 2017. The family relationship extended well beyond that business.
Kaia offered a recent public glimpse of it during a Sept. 9 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. She openly referred to Clooney as “Uncle George” and recalled his elaborate childhood pranks, including a rubber snake that repeatedly resurfaced over the years.
She also remembered Clooney showing up to one of her childhood community-theater performances. George and Amal Clooney were also photographed arriving at Kaia’s Los Angeles home on Sept. 22 as the Gerber family mourned.
Presley’s parents, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, and Kaia have asked for privacy during what a family representative described as a “very difficult and painful time.”
Presley Had Been Public About Trying to Get Better
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Presley had increasingly spoken for himself about depression, substance use and his attempts to improve his mental health. During a 2023 appearance on the Studio 22 podcast, he said that if sharing his experiences helped even one other person get out of the kind of place he had once been in, that would be enough for him.
He described mental health as a “24/7 job” and said he hoped other people might be able to learn from mistakes he had already made. Presley later brought those conversations to social media through his “Mental Health Mondays” posts.
In March 2026, he shared footage surrounding an ibogaine treatment in Mexico. Presley wrote that he had been “absolutely terrified” before the experience, described confronting things he had been running from and said he was praying it would be the last time he needed to return for that kind of treatment.
Three months later, Presley appeared with his parents at the We Are ENOUGH x Aviator Nation event in Malibu on June 11. During a mental-health panel, he spoke about the pressure he had felt growing up publicly and said honesty had eventually given him a sense of freedom. “The most free I felt was when I was finally honest with myself,” he told the audience. The event became his final public appearance.