Cindy Crawford wants to help teach people "how to grieve" after the loss of a loved one.
Cindy Crawford
The 52-year-old model and actress has teamed up with Return to Zero - a nonprofit organisation which aims to help people cope with pregnancy and infant loss - to help shed light on the impact losing a loved one can have on a person's mental health, as she says it's important to "talk about" the grieving process.
Cindy - who lost her brother Jeffrey to leukaemia when he was just three years told - said: "I lost a brother when I was 10 years old, which, you know, we've talked about before. Even then, as a 10 year old, I saw that people don't know how to talk to you about loss right.
"I went back to school, and some kids said nothing. Some kids made jokes, and it was awkward. Grief is awkward."
The 'Fair Game' star - who has son Presley, 19, and daughter Kaia, 17, with her husband Rande Gerber - then praised Return to Zero's founders Kiley and Sean Hanish, who started the organisation after they suffered a stillbirth and struggled with the feelings of loss afterwards.
Cindy added: "We are not taught how to grieve, and one of the incredibly powerful things that these guys did with their loss is open a conversation for other families who've suffered similar loss. So many people have a miscarriage or stillborn birth or lose a child very quickly after it's born, and I think we don't know how to take care of parents."
And the model says she couldn't be prouder of the pair - who are now parents to two healthy children - for using their experience to help others.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, she said: "I'm just so proud of my friends, who are using their loss to really help others on this road towards healing. You know, there is no one way, no right way, but it's just the conversation that helps."
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