Cara Delevingne opens up about rehab journey after ‘heartbreaking’ airport photos: ‘I was not OK’

Model and actress Cara Delevingne has opened up about the power of rehab and therapy, and the moment she realised she needed help.

Last September, Delevingne, 30, was photographed by paparazzi acting strangely while waiting to board Jay-Z’s private jet at Los Angeles’ Van Nuys Airport. The flight never took off, and fans were left worried about her wellbeing.

In a new interview with Vogue, the pansexual Carnival Row star revealed that the lifestyle she was living at the time was “not sustainable” and that she “needed support”.

She said: “I hadn’t slept. I was not OK. ​​It’s heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, OK, I don’t look well.”

In a vulnerable conversation, Cara Delevingne gets real about addiction and mental health. For Vogue’s April issue, Delevingne opens up about turning 30, the moment she realized that she was “not okay,” and why she’s taking her healing “second by second.”https://t.co/UURan9Js6I pic.twitter.com/1c4EJSVLZS

— Vogue Runway (@VogueRunway) March 8, 2023

Tabloid rumours suggested that in the month before the photos were taken, Delevingne had spent days celebrating her birthday with an Alice In Wonderland themed party and at the Burning Man festival in the US.

Photos of Delevingne’s friend and Suicide Squad co-star, Margot Robbie, looking upset outside her house only added to fans’ concerns.

However, Delevingne has revealed how the photos are actually something she is “grateful” for, as they were a “reality check,” and helped her to understand that she needed to make a change.

“I always kind of knew that things were going to have to be different in my thirties, because the way that I was living was not sustainable,” she explained. 

“I hadn’t seen a therapist in three years. I kind of pushed everyone away, which made me realise 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.

“From September, I just needed support. I needed to start reaching out. And my old friends I’ve known since I was 13, all came over and we started crying. They looked at me and said, ‘You deserve a chance to have joy’. ”

At the end of 2022, the Only Murders In The Building star began a 12-step rehab programme, which has helped her to delve into the “deeper” issues she’s faced.

Delevingne has been open about how her mum’s struggles with addiction affected her growing up.

She explained that taking on the rehab programme is the best thing she’s done, and she now refuses to feel any shame for seeking help. Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2022 were the first she had ever experienced sober as an adult, she revealed.

Cara Delevingne for Vogue. pic.twitter.com/1cZoGLfrM7

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Taking on sobriety and seeking support has not only strengthened her sense of self, it’s improved her relationship with her girlfriend, musician Leah Mason.

“[Mason is] the type of person who has boundaries,” Delevingne explained. “And there came a point with me when she wasn’t going to have it much longer, and it was a blessing in disguise.

“It’s the first time I feel like I’m in a relationship not trying to rescue someone.”

Delevingne has previously opened up about the difficult decision she took in embracing her queerness, saying she used to feel she had to live a “very straight lifestyle”.