Cindy Crawford's Son Presley Gerber Appears To Have Removed His 'Misunderstood' Face Tattoo

Presley Gerber has seemingly had one of his most prominent tattoos removed, a year after debuting the ink.

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber's 22-year-old son was photographed Monday with girlfriend Sydney Brooke at Malibu Country Mart in Malibu, California. His controversial "misunderstood" face tattoo was notably missing from his cheek, E! News reported.

Photos posted earlier this month by the model on his Instagram page show that the ink has faded, suggesting he has been in the process of having it removed, according to People.

Gerber received criticism in February 2020 when he debuted the face tattoo, the work of celebrity tattoo artist Jonathan "JonBoy" Valena, who has also created body art for Hailey Baldwin, her husband Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner.

While Gerber defended the polarizing design at the time, some social media users felt that he had ruined his face.

"Are face tats becoming an in’ thing? Sweet Jesus. The only thing misunderstood is that tattoo. You just ruined your canvas," one person commented on his Instagram post, Page Six reported.

"Are you really that misunderstood? Having all the money at your disposal is never a good thing in life. You must be so bored," another user wrote.

However, the model explained in an Instagram Live that he had the tattoo done because "that’s how [I've] felt my entire life."

"If I thought this was going to ruin my face or I didn’t want this, I wouldn’t have done it. I think that’s a pretty obvious thing," he was quoted by Page Six as saying in the video, adding, "F—k you if you don't like it."

Gerber went on to challenge online trolls to visit his home and criticize him to his face.

Gerber also wrote on his Instagram Story at the time that he was confused by the backlash over the ink. "Most and a lot of people can get facelifts, change genders, lip injections, etc and it's offensive to say anything in today's day in age but I get a little face tattoo and now people love to hate me..Hmmmm?" read the post obtained by E! News.

Meanwhile, his parents chose to stand by his side, with an unnamed source telling E! News in March last year that Crawford and Rande only wanted their son "to be happy and to be who he is."

"It's tough for them to see and has caused great concern. They know these statements are some kind of cry for attention or help. But Presley is an adult and is finding his place," the insider said. "In a perfect world, this is not the way that they would choose for him to express himself. But they feel they have to be there for him and to support him as much as possible as he figures things out."

Aside from his "misunderstood" ink, Gerber has gotten a number of tattoos over the years, including some barbed wire art on his hand and a gun on his hip bone. He also got a matching tattoo with his sister Kaia Gerber last year, after getting "Kaia XXIII" inked on his arm in 2018.