Two years ago, Cara Delevingne was photographed wandering near Los Angeles’ Van Nuys airport, shoeless and clearly under the influence. The photos spread widely and prompted the actress to enter rehab; she says she’s been sober ever since. In a lengthy interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times, Delevingne reflected on what her sobriety journey has been like since then, as she celebrates starring in “Cabaret” in London’s West End.
She admitted to getting drunk at her aunt’s wedding when she was only 8 years old and acknowledged the airport photos. “It was a stupid decision to go straight from a festival to work. I should have waited a day. But it was going to happen to me anyway, there were plenty of photos out there of me looking wasted,” she said.
“Listen, I signed up for this, this is my job, it’s what I do. But without that would I be sober now? I would have never been Sally Bowles in the West End, I’m super proud of that,” Delevingne added.
She also revealed that she’s begun to reexamine her relationship with her mother, socialite Pandora Delevingne, and the latter’s own addiction battle and diagnosis of bipolar disorder. “I do think the older I get, the more I see how similar me and my mother are. She has managed to survive through so much. She’s whip smart,” Delevingne explained.
“I think there are really beautiful things about my mother and really sad things too. It makes the whole situation complex,” she added. “When I was younger I talked about it freely because I didn’t really understand it. But it affected me, so I felt like it was my right to talk about it. I feel bad about that.”
The interview also touched on another topic that’s been a major part of Delevingne’s media coverage over the years: her sexuality. Her parents, she said, just assumed she was straight — something that she thinks is common with their generation.
“It’s a generational thing. I don’t think it was their fault at all. It’s just how it was. I think a lot of parents thought, ‘Oh, if I have a gay child I have done something wrong,’” she shared.
You can read the interview with Cara Delevingne here.
