Supermodel Stephanie Seymour has opened up about grieving her late son Harry Brant in her first interview since his death in 2021.
The 54-year-old model, who was a former Victoria’s Secret Angel, detailed how her family has mourned for their loss and her coping mechanisms.
Harry, an aspiring model and journalist, died in January 2021 at the age of 24 of an accidental prescription drug overdose.
In a new cover shoot and interview with The Wall Street Journal, Seymour said she honours her son by doing what she thinks he would love, which she said “does help me with my grief”.
She was photographed wearing some of Harry’s favourite clothes, including a suit designed by Hedi Slimane for Yves Saint Laurent.
Seymour said she keeps the suit hanging in her dressing room, which she described as “this big room where I keep all my stuff”.
“I do my makeup there. I live in that room,” she told the publication. “I looked at that suit one night and I said, ‘I’m going to put it on’. It fit me.”
The prolific model continued: “If I think that Harry would love something, I do it, and it does help me with my grief. It still feels so good to put his clothes on.”
Seymour, whose modelling career has seen her grace the covers of Vogue and Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue, reflected on how much her late son loved picking out outfits for her to wear.
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“He would go through everything, the vintage, the everything, lay it all on the floor,” she said. Harry once picked out a blue vintage Christian Dior dress, accessorised with Manolo Blahnik heels, for her to wear to a parent-teacher conference, she said.
“I’d say, ‘Harry, I can’t wear a vintage couture dress to a parent-teacher conference’. And he’d say, ‘Why not?’” she recalled.
She credits her and husband Peter Brant’s grandchildren with helping her get through the grief, but she thinks of “what’s missing”, particularly during the holiday season.
However, her family recently welcomed a happy new addition after her eldest son Dylan Brant had a son of his own in October. The baby boy is named Harry, after his late uncle, Seymour revealed.
“I’m really lucky. [We] have a lot of grandchildren. And there’s nothing that’s helped me get through all of this more than my grandchildren,” she added.
Peter Brant, Stephanie Seymour and Harry Brant attend the Jason Wu fall 2013 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on February 8, 2013
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“And a lot of people say, ‘Well, they’re not your grandchildren. They’re Peter’s grandchildren. But they don’t feel that way, and neither do I. Nothing has given me more comfort than those kids calling me Grandma Stephanie.”
Seymour and Brant married in 1995 and share three children, Lily, Harry and Peter Jr. The billionaire art collector also has five children from his previous marriage to Sandra Simms, while Seymour has one son from her first marriage to guitarist Tom Andrews.
A statement released by Brant’s family when Harry died said: “Our hearts are shattered. Harry wanted to overcome his addiction and was just days away from re-entering rehab.
“Harry was not just our son, he was also a wonderful brother, loving grandson, favourite uncle and a caring friend. He was a creative, loving and powerful soul that brought light into so many people’s hearts. He was a truly beautiful person inside and out.”