Cara Delevingne’s journey to sobriety hasn’t been easy, but she insists that nothing will hold her back – and that she’s’stable and calmer’ today.
The supermodel and actress, 30, has suffered with alcohol and drugs, and a series of paparazzi photos of her appearing dishevelled and unstable during a trip to the Burning Man event last year had many worried about her mental health.
She later spoke up about confronting her troubles front on, and earlier this year disclosed that she had checked herself into treatment following failed interventions from loved ones.
Several months later, Cara is feeling better and brighter, and she insists that nothing will deter her from continuing on her path to recovery, despite occasional setbacks.
Cara told Elle UK: ‘It hasn’t [been easy], but there have never been moments when I’m like, “This isn’t worth it.”
‘It’s been worth every second. I just don’t know what it would take for me to give it up. I am stable. I’m calmer.’
The Only Murders in the Building star, who features on the cover of the magazine and poses for a gorgeous photograph, confessed that she feels a weight has been lifted off her shoulders.
She believes she can be completely honest about her problems with her friends, family, and fans.
‘For a long time, I felt like I was hiding a lot from people who looked up to me,’ she said.
‘I finally feel as though I can be free and myself, fully.’
The multi-talented star rose to fame as a Burberry model over ten years ago and has since gone on to carve out a massive career in entertainment, both as a supermodel walking for mega-brands like Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, and Oscar de la Renta, and as an actress, starring in films and TV shows like Suicide Squad, Carnival Row, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
But Cara was affected by her meteoric leap from unknown to household name.
‘It didn’t feel real,’ she said. ‘I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t feel worthy.
‘I was still stuck in this mindset of not being good enough. I was doing the best I could, but I wasn’t really appreciating every moment. Inside, I felt very different to how I looked.’
Cara acknowledges her fiancée, artist Leah Mason, often known as Minke, for helping her reach to this point.
‘My girlfriend has been really wonderful in introducing me to a lot of things and people,’ she said.
‘Being with my girlfriend, in this relationship, there are just so many things that came at once that have made me so happy and comfortable with who I am.’
Cara and Minke have known each other for 20 years, but they are said to have started dating last summer after being seen kissing while on vacation in Italy.
Cara, who is in a same-sex relationship, knows the struggles she and others in her community endure, particularly at home, and believes queer pleasure is important “now more than ever, in England and the United States.”
‘It’s a scary time for queer people. But the more that we’re met with fear, the more joy we have to bring. Because no one can take that joy away, no matter what. We’re not going anywhere.’
The September issue of ELLE UK is on sale from July 27.
