Cara Delevingne: Hollywood magnifies mental health issues
The “Just Murders in the Building” star has called her infamous viral paparazzi photos a “reality check” for which she is now “grateful”.
Cara Delevingne is ready to talk about those viral paparazzi photos in the wake of her newfound sobriety.
The ‘Paper Towns’ actress and supermodel has worked in both Hollywood and the fashion industry since 2011. “When you have problems coming into this industry, they just get bigger and bigger,” Delevingne said. Fashion cover story. “There’s nothing in it that makes it better.”
The British actress continued: “In a way, a lot of people looked at my childhood or my family and thought, ‘It’s spoiled, it’s nepotistic, it’s extremely privileged,’ which I did, don’t get me wrong.” But life was not so easy for other reasons.”
Delevingne detailed Hollywood’s sometimes “shallow relationships” and shared with Vogue that she lost the brand that once promoted her as a mental health advocate as she began to personally struggle with her own well-being amid the lockdown. and a “total existential crisis”.
“I have so many friends. They ride for me and I really love my friends, but many times I felt like they were shallow relationships because I wasn’t able to be honest about what I was going through. I didn’t want to burden anyone,” Delevingne said. “It was also, ‘What if people leave?’ If you ask any of my friends, they’d say they’ve never seen me cry. From September, all I needed was support. I had to start touching her. And my old friends that I’ve known since I was 13 all came over and we started crying. They looked at me and said, “You deserve a chance at joy.”
Delevingne was the focus of viral paparazzi photos leaving Van Nuys Airport in September 2022, with “Suicide Squad” co-star and longtime friend Margot Robbie comforting her.
“I did not sleep. I wasn’t well,” Delevingne said of that time. “It’s heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point I was like, ‘OK, I don’t look good. You know, sometimes you need a reality check, so these pictures were kind of rewarding.
The “Carnival Row” actress recalled the COVID era this way: “All of my belonging, all of my validation — my identity, everything — was so wrapped up in work. And when that was over, I felt like I had no purpose. I’m just worthless without work and it was scary. Instead of taking the time to learn something new or do something new, I became very immersed in misery, stuttering, and partying. It was a very sad time.”
The star of the ‘Planet Sex’ documentaries added: ‘Change was needed but I fought it so hard. I welcomed this new time, but I also mourned it. It was like a funeral for my previous life, a farewell to an era. And so I decided I’m going to party as hard as I can because that’s the end of it… There’s an element of feeling invincible when I’m on drugs. I put myself in danger in these moments because I don’t care about my life. I was climbing anything and jumping off things… feeling wild. It’s a scary thing for the people around you who love you.”
Delevingne was supported by her ‘Only Murders in the Building’ co-star Selena Gomez, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, fashion designer Stella McCartney and Robbie as she entered the 12-step programme.
“Obviously this process has its ups and downs, but I’ve already started to realize so many things. People want my story to be this after-school special where I’m just like, “Oh look, I was an addict and now I’m sober and that’s it.” And it’s not that simple. It doesn’t happen overnight,” Delevingne concluded. “Of course I want things to be instant — especially this generation, we want things to happen quickly — but I had to dig deeper.”
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