Australian music icon Nick Cave has announced the death of his eldest son, Jethro Lazenby, at the age of 31.
This is the second time Cave has dealt with the death of a child, as his youngest son Arthur also died in 2015.
“With much sadness, I can confirm that my son, Jethro, has passed away,” the former Bad Seeds frontman said in a statement.
“We would be grateful for family privacy at this time.”
Jethro was born just 10 days before Cave’s second son Luke in 1991 to Melbournite model Beau Lazenby. He is understood to have had schizophrenia and died just two days after being released on bail from Melbourne Remand Centre last Thursday.
Jethro moved to the UK when he was younger, working as a model for Balenciaga and Versace. He was also a musician.
He has spoken previously about the difficult relationship that he had with his father, claiming that he did not meet Nick until he was seven or eight years old.
“It didn’t start off that great, having all this shit with my dad and being in his shadow,” Jethro said in an interview in 2012.
Nick has however said of his eldest son: “To my eternal regret, I didn’t make much contact with Jethro in the early years, but I now have a great relationship with him.”
Jethro was found guilty of unlawful assault in April after attacking his mother Beau. A court heard that Beau had found Jethro at her front door on March 7 and allowed him to stay the night. The next morning, the pair got into an argument, during which Jethro attacked Beau. His lawyers told the court that Jethro was experiencing a schizophrenic episode.
He was told by the magistrate upon release that he needed to undergo substance abuse treatment and avoid his mother for the next two years.
Nick Cave has previously spoken about the “vastness” of his grief in the wake of his son Arthur’s death. The 64-year old singer explored the loss and tragedy of that accidental death in the documentary One More Time With Feeling, which looked at the making of his 2016 album Skeleton Tree.
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