Decades after her brother, Jeffrey, passed away from leukemia at the age of 2, Cindy Crawford opens up about the tragic loss.
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During her Friday appearance on the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast, the supermodel spoke about how Jeffrey’s cancer was first discovered.
“I know this sounds very, like, child abuse, but, you know, we definitely were spanked as kids,” she said. “My mother, she would say, ‘Go to your room, you’re getting a spanking.’ And that waiting period to your point was just like the worst.”
She continued by stating, “I have a brother who died, and he had leukemia, and before we knew he had leukemia, one of the symptoms of leukemia is you bruise super easily. My dad had, like, swatted him, but it left like a handprint on him.”
Crawford then said her mother “freaked out” to her dad about the mark, quoting her, “You can’t be hitting the kids that hard, you know, that’s not a spanking.”
“My dad was like, ‘No, I swear I barely touched them,'” she pointed out. “And then later that week, we found out that he had leukemia, so I think that that was it. My dad… he never could spank again.”
Cindy Crawford Reflects on How Her Family Coped With the Loss of Her Brother
While continuing to speak about her brother’s passing, Cindy Crawford discussed how her family had coped with the loss.
“I mean, so I was 8. My older sister would have been 10, my younger sister would have been 4,” she shared. “And Jeff was like 2, turning 3 when he got diagnosed, and then he was sick for two years.”
Crawford also explained, “I didn’t really feel like it as a kid, and I didn’t know, and he knew he was sick, but we didn’t really know what was going on.”
The supermodel further shared how she and her sisters had to stay with extended family while Jeffrey was hospitalized.
“I think when he died, obviously that was devastating for the whole family,” she noted. “I think for my mother, she was able and chose to really grieve properly. She went to death and dying courses.”
Crawford then added, “She had a very strong faith. So she was able to move on through grief.”