Nick Cave's son Earl, 26, addresses his twin brother Arthur's death and his own conversion to Christianity a decade later which he says is 'intrinsically connected to my trauma'

By REBECCA DAVISON, DEPUTY HEAD OF SHOWBIZ Published: 10:16, 20 July 2026 | Updated: 11:43, 20 July 2026 Earl Cave has spoken about the tragic death of his twin brother Arthur eleven years ago, after he fell from a cliff in Brighton after taking LSD for the first time. The actor, 26, said the trauma led in part, to calling himself a Christian two years ago as he went on to find a new solace in religion.  Talking to the Sunday Times, Earl said that the one thing that attracts him to faith is its belief in forgiveness and the afterlife.  He said: 'I like the idea that this isn’t it. I wonder whether that’s something intrinsically connected to my trauma. The idea is definitely something that I need to have.  'It’s comforting. Life doesn’t feel like an endless vacuum of nothing. Faith keeps me and my morals in check. I manifest and pray for people. It makes me happy.' Earl said that he didn't go to church as a child but has become drawn to going as an adult. Attending every Sunday, he said he started liking it 'more and more.'  Nick Cave's son Earl, 26, addressed his twin brother Arthur's death and his own conversion to Christianity a decade later which he believes is 'intrinsically connected to my trauma' Arthur (pictured) tragically fell to his death from a cliff near Brighton after taking LSD in July 2015 for the first time He questioned why it is that he went and conluded: 'I suppose it's because I believe in God.'   Earl's parents are Australian singer Nick Cave, 68, and model and fashion designer Susie, 59.  The subject of Arthur's death, features heavily in Nick's music. Skeleton Tree, released in 2016 is a depiction of the grief in its rawest form.  Meanwhile, Susie channelled her own grief for many years into her popular fashion line, The Vampire's Wife. Now defunct, she has just launched her new brand called Susie Cave Weddings & Funerals. There was sadly more tragedy for the family when Nick's son, Jethro, 31, whose mother was Beau Lazenby, died in 2022.  Jethro, who had schizophrenia and battle drug addictions, died in Melbourne two days after he was released from jail and two months after violently assaulting his own mother.  Like Earl, Nick found some sort of solace in religion.  He stops short of calling himself a Christian, but finds in the Church a place of refuge, where he is free to feel and express pain and doubt following his grief.  Speaking about the deaths of two of his children, Nick previously said he wondered if he felt culpable as 'the one thing you're supposed to do is protect your children'. Cave pictured with Arthur and his twin brother Earl at the premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 2012 There was sadly more tragedy for the family when Nick's son, Jethro, 31, whose mother was Beau Lazenby, died in 2022 -  Pictured: Jethro participating in Milan Fashion Week in 2009 He told The Guardian: 'I think it's something that people who lose children feel regardless of the situation, simply because the one thing you're supposed to do is not let your children die. 'Forget that. The one thing you're supposed to do is protect your children.' Addressing if he feels culpable because drugs were involved in Arthur's death, he said: 'There could be some element of that, yep. Look, these things are in our DNA, they're inherited. I don't want to make any assumptions about Arthur, who was just a young boy. It's not like he was into drugs. 'On a fundamental level, it's against nature to be burying your children. And there can't help but be feelings of culpability.' An inquest into Arthur's death heard that the teenager, who also had cannabis in his system, was 'completely disorientated' as he stumbled off a cliff into the sheer Ovingdean Gap near Brighton.  Police said the teenager was tripping out so badly he 'couldn't feel what was real and what wasn't real any more' and in a final message to a friend he said: 'Where am I? Where am I?'. Police said the teenager was tripping out so badly he 'couldn't feel what was real and what wasn't real any more' and in a final message to a friend he said: 'Where am I? Where am I?'. In the minutes before the teenager died he was spotted by motorists as he 'zig-zagged' along the grass on the edge of the cliff before climbing over a safety fence and toppling over, it was said. The singer's family have previously spoken of their heartbreak after the death of their 'beautiful, happy loving boy', with Cave and his wife Susie hugging each other as the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. The coroner heard that prior to the heartbreaking tragedy, Arthur had arranged to meet with friends to take LSD at the Rottingdean windmill - a location they naively saw to be 'safe and open.' But within hours after a 'dark trip' the teenager fell from the cliff and suffered a fractured skull, broken legs and bleeding on the brain, the hearing was told. The student was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital but could not be saved and Sussex Police said his death was not suspicious. The family moved to Los Angeles soon after Arthur died because they were 'triggered too much' by living just down the road from where it happened. The tragedy was widely reported and Nick said this resulted in him being 'forced to grieve publicly'. He added: 'That was helpful, weirdly enough. It stopped me completely shutting the windows and bolting the doors and just living in this dark world.' Asked if his experience of bereavement helped after Jethro died, he said: 'Yes. It really helped, because I knew I could get through. I'd been through it.' He said does not 'feel cursed' but added it would be wrong to talk publicly about Jethro because he did not meet him until he was seven and it would be disrespectful to his mother, who brought him up. Nick was insistent that all of his boys knew that he loved them. 'But I don't know if I see it as my role, or I don't see it as any parent's role, to be influencing... the thinking of their children. I think if parents stood back a little bit and allowed their children to develop, it would probably be better for the children,' he said. He said parents needed to trust their children to make the right decisions. 'Getting advice from me is like being measured by the undertaker.'  Earl is making the most of the opportunities that life brings him. He plays Ralph in the indie coming-of-age drama, Sunny Dancer.  It features Bella Ramsey as a cynical teen who attends a summer camp for young cancer survivors and falls in with Ralph’s group of outcasts.  Earl's band, Bell Practice, is named after the church bells he and his bandmate, Mimiko McVeigh, used to live near to.  He admits he doesn't spend time worrying about nepo baby accusation, saying: 'if I didn’t do music because I was afraid of people comparing me to my father, what would be the point in my life?'   Earl has just finished filming the family drama Alma, which stars 'veyr maternal'. He said: 'She suffered through that film in the most amazing way.'