Charlotte D’Alessio is remembering Presley Gerber with a deeply personal tribute, reflecting on the love they once shared and the anger she now feels over his death at age 27.

The Canadian model, who dated Presley for two years beginning in 2018, posted a series of emotional messages, photographs and videos to her Instagram Stories on September 21, one day after his death.

Her tribute was not polished or restrained.

Instead, it was filled with grief, frustration and affection for someone who had remained meaningful to her long after their romantic relationship ended.

In one of the posts, D’Alessio shared a photograph of herself embracing Presley on a dock.

She wrote that they had shared a “pure love” and thanked him for the life and memories they experienced together.

She then added a painful message that captured the central emotion of her tribute.

“You deserved more time. You deserved more life.”

She also said she was “very angry” about what happened.

A Relationship That Began in 2018

Presley and D’Alessio began dating in 2018.

At the time, both were young models navigating careers in an industry already closely connected to Presley through his mother, Cindy Crawford.

Their relationship became public during a period when Presley was frequently appearing at fashion events and building his own modeling career.

The pair were photographed together on multiple occasions and remained a couple for approximately two years.

They eventually separated, but D’Alessio’s tribute suggests that the emotional connection between them did not simply disappear.

Her posts focused not on the breakup or the circumstances that ended their relationship, but on the version of Presley she wanted to remember.

In another black-and-white photograph of the former couple, D’Alessio wrote that she would always love him and hoped he could still feel the love surrounding him.

The message was brief, but intensely personal.

It reflected the unusual complexity of grieving someone who once played a major role in your life, even if that relationship ended years before.

‘I Will Always Remember You This Way’

One of the most moving parts of D’Alessio’s tribute was a short video.

The clip showed Presley running down a path toward a body of water while a small white dog ran beside him.

D’Alessio captioned the video with a simple sentence:

“I will always remember you this way.”

The image offered a different portrait of Presley than the one dominating headlines following his death.

It was not connected to rehab, addiction, emergency calls or medical investigations.

Instead, it showed a young man running freely outdoors, captured during what appeared to be an ordinary private moment.

D’Alessio also shared several additional photographs from their time together, creating what amounted to a small visual archive of their relationship.

The collection suggested that, for her, Presley’s identity was far larger than the circumstances of his final days.

Presley Died at a Rehabilitation Facility

Presley died on September 20 at a rehabilitation facility in Santa Monica, California.

He was 27.

Emergency responders were called to the facility after reports of a possible overdose and cardiac arrest.

Police later confirmed that Presley was found unresponsive when officers arrived.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Authorities are currently investigating his death as a suspected overdose.

However, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has not issued an official cause or manner of death.

An autopsy was completed on September 21, but the findings were deferred pending additional testing and studies.

Officials have said that final results could take several months.

That distinction remains important.

The circumstances surrounding Presley’s death are still under investigation, and no final medical determination has been released.

His Family Has Asked for Privacy

Presley’s family has largely remained out of public view since his death.

A representative for Cindy Crawford, Rande Gerber and Kaia Gerber issued a brief statement asking for privacy during what the family described as a very difficult and painful time.

Sources close to the family have described them as devastated and in shock.

Presley was Cindy and Rande’s eldest child and their only son.

His younger sister, Kaia, is also a model and actress.

The siblings grew up in the public eye but generally maintained a close relationship.

Just weeks before Presley died, Kaia had spoken openly about how deeply his struggles with addiction had affected their family.

Presley Had Been Open About Addiction and Mental Health

In the years before his death, Presley increasingly moved away from presenting a carefully controlled public image.

He spoke candidly about depression, panic attacks, substance use and treatment.

In 2023, he said that if sharing his own difficult experiences could help even one person avoid similar mistakes, then speaking publicly would be worthwhile.

He later began posting content under the theme “Mental Health Mondays,” encouraging more honest conversations around mental health and recovery.

Presley also discussed the complicated medication regimens he had experienced during treatment and expressed frustration about not always knowing how best to manage the medications prescribed to him.

His public comments often made clear that recovery had not been a simple or linear process.

Final Months Included Another Attempt at Treatment

Earlier in 2026, Presley shared that he had undergone ibogaine treatment as part of his efforts to address addiction.

He described the experience as frightening but potentially transformative.

In the accompanying post, Presley expressed hope that the treatment could represent a turning point.

He said he was confronting things he had spent years avoiding and hoped he would never need to return for the same treatment again.

The message has become especially poignant since his death.

Months later, Presley died while staying at another treatment facility.

There is no official evidence connecting that earlier treatment to his death.

Friends and Former Partners Continue to Speak Out

D’Alessio is not the only person from Presley’s life to publicly mourn him.

Friends, fellow models and members of the entertainment industry have shared tributes describing him as gentle, kind and deeply loved.

Brooklyn Beckham called Presley one of the kindest people he had known.

Paris Hilton also remembered him as a “beautiful soul.”

Josie Canseco, another close friend, shared a message saying Presley deserved better and more time.

Taken together, the tributes show a side of Presley that existed alongside his well-documented struggles.

To the people who knew him personally, he was not defined solely by addiction, treatment or the circumstances of his death.

He was a son, brother, friend and former partner.

D’Alessio’s Tribute Focused on Love, Not the Investigation

What makes D’Alessio’s message particularly striking is what she chose not to emphasize.

She did not focus on the investigation.

She did not speculate about what caused Presley’s death.

She did not discuss rehab, medication or law enforcement.

Instead, she focused on love.

The dock photograph.

The old black-and-white image.

The video of him running toward the water with a dog.

Those were the memories she chose to share.

For D’Alessio, the dominant emotion appeared to be anger that someone she once loved had died so young.

“You deserved more time,” she wrote.

That sentence has now become one of the most widely shared lines from the wave of tributes following Presley’s death.

Remembering Presley Beyond His Final Days

Presley’s death will continue to generate questions until the medical examiner completes the additional testing needed to establish an official cause.

Police may also continue examining the circumstances surrounding his final hours.

But D’Alessio’s tribute offers a reminder that the investigation represents only one part of his story.

Long before the emergency call at a Santa Monica rehabilitation facility, Presley had relationships, friendships, family memories and ordinary moments that mattered deeply to the people around him.

For Charlotte D’Alessio, that is the Presley she appears determined to remember.

Not the headlines.

Not the speculation.

But the young man running toward the water, alive and free, preserved in a video from another time.

And in the words she shared after his death, one feeling stood above everything else:

He should have had more life.