Luke Bryan Clears The Air On His Sister Kelly's 'Tragic' Cause Of Death 18 Years After Her Passing
By Favour Adegoke on October 30, 2025 at 1:30 AM EDT
Country star Luke Bryan opened up about the sudden death of his sister, Kelly, who passed away in 2007 at age 39 from sudden death syndrome.
Speaking with Anderson Cooper, he revealed doctors found no clear cause, only a possible fall injury.
Luke Bryan recalled her deep love for family and the unbearable grief he felt at her funeral. The last time he saw her alive was at his Grand Ole Opry debut.
Luke Bryan Speaks Out About His Sister Kelly's Sudden And Tragic Passing
Country star Luke has opened up about the heartbreaking loss of his sister, Kelly Bryan, who passed away unexpectedly in 2007 at just 39 years old.
Speaking on CNN's "All There Is with Anderson Cooper" podcast, the 49-year-old singer addressed long-standing speculation surrounding her death.
Luke acknowledged that there was "misinformation" online about his sister's passing due to his not properly explaining what happened to her. According to the singer, people feel that his family has tried to cover up the incident.
Clarifying the situation, Luke shared that doctors ultimately described Kelly's passing as a case of "sudden death syndrome," which is a rare condition that can strike without warning.
"There is a very, very small percentage of people that die for no reason in the world," he said. "And it's called sudden death syndrome, and that's essentially what they described my sister's death as."
Speaking more about Kelly's death, Luke recalled that she was keeping busy in her home with laundry when she suddenly passed away, noting that "it was like, you know, somebody just turned the switch off on her."
"And it was just tragic beyond words," he added, per the New York Post.
The Singer Reveals His Sister Kelly's Autopsy Offered No Clear Answers After Her Sudden Death
During the conversation, podcast host Cooper asked Luke whether it took time for doctors to determine what caused his sister's death.
"Yeah, yeah, obviously," Luke responded. "We wanted to know what had happened because there was so much, there was just so much unanswered questions. And we wanted to know, could there be a family history of something that her children might have or may have?"
The "American Idol" judge explained that, under normal circumstances, an autopsy for someone in their late 30s might reveal an aneurysm, embolism, or blood clot. But in Kelly's case, the results were completely inconclusive.
"She had a pretty severe, like, orbital bone injury," Luke continued. "So whether she fainted or not, I think she may have went into the floor and kind of knocked herself out. My nephew was 3 at the time."
Luke Bryan Opens Up About The Pain Of Losing His Sister Kelly And The Grief He Still Carries
Looking back on the heartbreaking loss, Luke admitted he still sometimes wonders whether things could have ended differently if someone had been with Kelly before her passing.
Describing his sister with deep affection, Luke continued, "She really was everything in our lives. She was a mother of three children, and she was, I mean, the best mother you could ever dream of. And we all leaned on her for so many things, and it's hard to really wrap your brain around her being gone."
Luke also opened up about the overwhelming grief he felt on the day of her funeral, sharing that he still doesn't "know how to vocalize what [he] was feeling" that day.
"I mean, the nausea. I did not want to go in the funeral home and see my sister," he said. "I was just really … not processing this well. And the fact that I knew at 5:00 p.m. I was going to walk into that funeral home and have to deal with this — it was just really — I just wasn't doing well with it."
Luke continued, "and we get in a car and it's the sensation you get in the car and that this has got to happen."
Luke Bryan Reflects On His Final Moments With His Late Sister Kelly
Luke also shared with Cooper that the last time he saw Kelly was during a 2007 trip to Nashville for his debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
He recalled how excited she was for him, so much so that she purchased 120 tickets on her own credit card just so family and friends could attend.
"I never could have imagined that our last photo would have been taken in the lobby of the Grand Ole Opry right after I had done... my first performance," Luke reflected.
The Country Star Has Been Raising His Late Sister's Kids Since Her Husband Died
Tragically, Kelly's husband, Ben Cheshire, passed away from a heart attack in 2014.
Following his death, Luke and his wife, Caroline Bryan, opened their home to the couple's three children, Til, and older sisters Jordan and Kris.
The Bryans are also parents to two boys of their own, Thomas "Bo" Boyer, 17, and Tatum "Tate" Christopher, 15.
"We get to live with Kelly through her children," Luke told People Magazine in a 2021 interview. "We see so many things in her children that remind us of her."
