After Her Son’s Injury, Fashion Designer Offers Other Parents Advice on E-Bikes: ‘Hard No’

TV personality Rachel Zoe shared photos on Instagram of her son, Skyler, 13, who had ‘a badly lacerated kidney, a ton of pain and a shattered mom.’

Rachel Zoe attends the 2023 Baby2Baby Gala in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 11, 2023. Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Skyler Berman, the 13-year-old son of fashion designer Rachel Zoe, is recovering after being seriously injured in an e-bike accident.

Zoe, 53, took to Instagram on Saturday to share an update on her eldest son, who turns 14 this month.

“Update: a badly lacerated kidney, a ton of pain and a shattered mom,” she wrote in a since-expired Instagram Story.

The television personality, who rose to fame in the mid-2000s as a celebrity stylist, issued a stark warning to fellow parents about the dangers of electric bicycles.

“Unable to laugh or sneeze and 100 tests later we are still here and I know how much worse this could have been BUT to all the parents about to cave on the E-BIKE do not,” she penned.

“Sky will not be on one for as long as I have a say in his life. HARD NO. Also thank you to the best doctors and nurses that do this miracle work 24:7 you are the heroes.”

Earlier in the day, Zoe shared that her teenage son had been receiving care in the emergency room for nine hours.

“For any parent deciding if they should get a [expletive] E-BIKE for their child DO NOT,” she wrote via her Instagram Stories, per People.

“I DID NOT and I am a hard no but Sky was on one ... whoever is being begged by a child to get one HARD NO.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Zoe’s representative for an additional update. However, a response was not received by publication time.

Electric bike accidents have been on the rise in recent years, according to findings published last year in the journal JAMA Surgery.

The February 2024 study found that e-bicycle injuries increased 30-fold from 2017 to 2022. During that five-year span, hospitalizations related to e-bike injuries surged 43-fold.

Adults between the ages of 18 and 24 saw a marked decrease in total injuries, down 33 percent during the same period. However, injuries among children rose by 13 percent.

Ski Lift Accident

Zoe welcomed Skyler in March 2011 with her estranged husband, entrepreneur Rodger Berman. The former couple, who were married for 26 years, also have an 11-year-old son named Kaius.

(L-R) Skyler Berman, Rachel Zoe, Kaius Berman, and Rodger Berman attend the Rachel Zoe Spring 2016 presentation during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 13, 2015. JP Yim/Getty Images for NYFW: The Shows

In December 2020, Skyler was rushed to the emergency room after falling 40 feet from a ski lift while vacationing with his family in Aspen, Colorado.

“After experiencing an actual miracle ... #Sky is almost 100 percent back to himself after falling 40 feet from a ski lift less than 48 hours ago,” Zoe shared via Instagram on Dec. 22, 2020.

“Both Skyler and I have endless gratitude for your prayers and kindness and we will never forget it. Sky is the bravest little soul that was indeed saved by an angel,” she added in part.

“To all the parents, please please hug your babies of any age extra tight from us today. Thank you again for your love we truly feel it so deeply.”

Zoe and Berman discussed their son’s fall during a July 2021 episode of their podcast, “Works for Us.” The show was rebranded to “Climbing in Heels with Rachel Zoe” in the fall of 2022.

During the episode, Zoe, who was not present when her son fell, described the incident as being “one of the scariest days” she and Berman had ever experienced as parents.

The father of two recounted the harrowing ordeal in depth, explaining that Skyler, then 9 years old, had fallen while trying to sit down on an incoming ski lift.

Berman and his ski instructor, Scott, managed to grab Skyler by the arms but were ultimately forced to let go after his clothing began to ride up on his neck, strangling him.

“And that was it, and we just watched him fall,” Berman recalled, noting that he had seen a mat on the ground below.

Zoe credited Luis Yllanes, an Aspen local, for quickly moving the pad in place to help cushion Skyler’s fall.

“I want to just say that the fact that he’s here today all in one piece and perfectly healthy is largely in part to who I will always refer to as our hero who’s joining us for this episode, Luis Yllanes,” the New York Times bestselling author said.

“We are so grateful in so many ways.”