A new Instagram account is attempting to raise questions about Sunny Garcia’s situation after almost four years of silence. Photo: TheInertia//Instagram
The story of world champion surfer Sunny Garcia is a heartbreaking one. You know the story, or at least the bits we’ve been privy to. But like everyone else, you likely have questions. And a new Instagram account called @FreeSunnyGarcia is attempting to raise questions about the Hawaiian world champ’s current situation.
After Sunny attempted to take his own life somewhere in the Pacific Northwest in April of 2019, friends, family, and fans around the world waited for word on his condition. At one point, according to a GoFundMe page for the family, he was in an Oregon hospital receiving care and then was reportedly moved to a facility in California. While there were a handful of updates in the following months, soon everything went silent. (We have reached out to family multiple times but have not received a response on Sunny’s current condition.) For six months, there was no news made public. Then Sunny’s daughter Kaila, who runs an Instagram account called PrayforSunny, explained why.
“I know it’s been a long almost 6 months since the last time I posted anything and there is a reason for that,” she wrote. “I just wanted to explain briefly why there have been no updates on my dad…. We (my sister and I) have been very hesitant and have to be extremely careful with what we say that pertains to our dad. I have asked one of our attorneys if it was ok to explain why we have not been allowed to update anyone. He said we could say ‘Per an order from the court due to a SPECIFIC REQUEST from both my dad’s guardians’ we have been told we (myself, Logan, and Stone) are not allowed to give out any information to ANYONE about our dad anymore. And that’s why the updates stopped. I’m sorry it has to be this way because I know there are so many of you who love and care for my dad including those of you who have known my dad for 30-40-plus years or longer and are so eager just to know how he is doing. We wish things were different but this is the reality of this situation for now.”
That “for now” turned into three long years of silence, broken only by a few sad videos or posts from Kaila saying how much she missed her father and how heartbroken she was that she wasn’t able to see him. But in recent days, a new Instagram account has popped up, and whoever is running it appears to be attempting to shed more light on the situation.
“We want to make it clear that these accounts on Instagram and TikTok are not run by Sunny’s family,” FreeSunnyGarcia explained to me in a DM. “We obviously hope that both the Instagram & TikTok Accounts @FreeSunnyGarcia accomplish awareness of the situation as it has been nearly four years since Sunny has been allowed any contact with family or friends/ The updates the family have received are vague & apparently the same every time. Bringing no new information or light as to his current medical condition etc. to the family.”
While we can’t confirm the accuracy of the statements on the new account, its statements do mirror some of Kaila’s more-cryptic posts.
“@Sunnygarcia hasn’t been in a coma or hospital for years,” @FreeSunnyGarcia wrote. “He’s currently being kept under LOCK 🔐 & KEY in a house & gated community in Texas by ex-girlfriend Lori Park,” reads the post. The Inertia staff has reached out to Park via email multiple times for comment and has yet to receive a response.
“No information regarding Sunny has been given to his children or family as per a gag order from the courts,” it continues. “Sunny has not been allowed to see his family or friends for three years and nine months and they have received no updates on Sunny. Sunny’s family has been torn apart and are suffering daily because they are not allowed to see their dad. His friends and fans miss him as well.”
The post, which used a part of a profile The Inertia filmed in Hawaii in 2014 in which Sunny explained that his greatest fear was losing his children and grandchildren, went on to state that his greatest fears have been realized.
“Sunny has been denied contact with his children and grandchildren and family for long enough,” the post continued. “There’s obviously a lot more going on than we are being told. But what we do know is something isn’t right. Something is fishy with this whole thing. If nothing else, his children deserve to see their Dad and Sunny deserves to see them. Anyone who knows Sunny knows that his family is da most important thing to him.”
There are still infinitely more questions than answers — and we’ve been working diligently to answer them. Sunny’s daughter, Kaila, recently posted as well.
“The word ‘sadness’ doesn’t seem to come close to explaining what’s been going on in me the last four years,” she wrote. “To grieve a loved one who is still here is indescribable. Especially because I am being kept from being by his side. And have been for the last three years and nine months. Sometimes for a split second I’ll forget that my dad is still here and then almost immediately I remember. It’s really hard to explain it. But that feeling takes the breath out of me every single time. To me it really feels like I’ve lost my dad. In more than just one way. I yearn for him every single day. I know I will never be the same. My heart has been shattered into so many pieces it’s beyond repair. But I know when the Lord decides it’s our time to come home. I will be whole again. The one place I know we will be free from her.”
Editor’s Note: A comment from the owners of the Instagram page FreeSunnyGarcia was added to this report.
