Cara Delevingne, the renowned British supermodel and actress recognized for her roles in Suicide Squad and Paper Towns, has faced her own battles amidst the glamour. Behind the scenes, this "it-girl" grappled with addiction and mental health challenges. Over the past few years, Delevingne was observed smoking, drinking, and exhibiting erratic behavior, raising concerns among fans that she might follow a path similar to her mother, Pandora Delevingne.
"It's Heartbreaking Because I Thought I Was Having Fun…"
In September 2022, Cara Delevingne reached her lowest point and decided to seek assistance for her addiction and depression. Paparazzi snapshots captured the tumultuous moments of her struggle, portraying her disheveled and frail. However, it was one candid photoshoot that truly jolted the actress. This shoot occurred at a private airport in California upon her return from the Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert. In the photos, she sported dark circles under her eyes, wore socks but no shoes, and frequently dropped her phone while clutching her head. These pictures served as her wake-up call.
"I hadn't slept. I was not okay," she said. "It's heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, 'Okay, I don't look well.' You know, sometimes you need a reality check, so in a way those pictures were something to be grateful for."
The images also prompted her friends to reach out, and although they had done so before, this time, Delevingne was prepared to lend an ear. "I've had interventions of a sort, but I wasn't ready. That's the problem. If you're not face-first on the floor and ready to get up again, you won't. At that point, I really was."
Additional paparazzi pictures showed Delevingne appearing disheveled while smoking in a car parked in a lot. "From September, I just needed support," shared Delevingne. "I needed to start reaching out. And my old friends I've known since I was 13, they all came over and we started crying. They looked at me and said, 'You deserve a chance to have joy.'"
This conversation made Delevingne realize that she required professional help.
[embedded content]
Cara Delevingne And Her Mother
In early November 2022, Cara Delevingne walked the red carpet at Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show. It was her final public appearance before taking a break to seek treatment in rehab. "I hadn't seen a therapist in three years," she said. "I just kind of pushed everyone away, which made me realize how much I was in a bad place. I always thought that the work needs to be done when the times are bad, but actually the work needs to be done when they're good. The work needs to be done consistently. It's never going to be fixed or fully healed but I'm okay with that, and that's the difference."
Cara Delevingne has talked openly about dealing with anxiety and depression from a young age. Her mother, Pandora Delevingne, struggled with heroin addiction and mental health issues throughout Cara's childhood. In fact, Pandora once mentioned that she would sometimes leave home to shield her children from witnessing her during her most challenging times.
"Everyone has something they go through with their family," shared Cara in 2022. "My life, I feel, was very stressful, because there was quite a lot of chaos, not being sure if people were okay or not."
"It Doesn't Happen Overnight…"
Now, at the age of 30, she is fully dedicated to the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program, a path she hadn't considered seriously before. "Before I was always into the quick fix of healing, going to a weeklong retreat or to a course for trauma, say, and that helped for a minute, but it didn't ever really get to the nitty-gritty, the deeper stuff. This time I realized that 12-step treatment was the best thing, and it was about not being ashamed of that. The community made a huge difference. The opposite of addiction is connection, and I really found that in 12-step."
On her path to recovery, she engages in several activities, including attending 12-step meetings, having therapy sessions each week, practicing yoga and meditation twice daily, eating three meals a day, spending time outdoors, and participating in psychodrama sessions (a type of therapy involving role-play).
"This process obviously has its ups and downs, but I've started realizing so much," she said. "People want my story to be this after-school special where I just say, 'Oh look, I was an addict, and now I'm sober and that's it.' And it's not as simple as that. It doesn't happen overnight… Of course I want things to be instant — I think this generation especially, we want things to happen quickly — but I've had to dig deeper."
[embedded content]
