ButCara Delevingneis a force of nature, and she has not let tragedy take her all the way down.
Delevingne had a difficult childhood due in part to her mother’s substance issues.
“I remember my sister, Poppy, saying something like, ‘Mum used to do heroin.’
And I was like, ‘What the f*** is that?
Like heroes and heroines?’
I was a tiny child.
Like, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,'” Delevingne toldEsquire.
“You grow up too quickly because you’re parenting your parents,” she toldVogue.
But it’s not something you get better from, I don’t think.
… She’s still struggling."
She has battled depression
Cara Delevingne experienced her first bout of depression as a teenager.
That and the pressure to do well in school contributed to Delevingne’s depression.
Delevingne was taken out of school and put on medication to avoid hospitalization.
“[U]ntil I was 18 I was just numb,” she told Esquire.
Unfortunately, Delevingne’s battle with depression did not end when she entered adulthood.
Instead, the “Paper Towns” actor still experienced mental health issues on and off.
“[I]t was a low point,” Delevingne toldVogue.
“I just had a complete existential crisis.
All my sense of belonging, all my validation my identity, everything was so wrapped up in work.
And when that was gone, I felt like I had no purpose.”
Unsurprisingly, Delevingne has an insightful way of looking at the disorder.
“[D]uring this film especially my skin was really bad.
In 2013 shetweetedabout having psoriasis and the scars it will leave on her body.
Fans were loving the look, with many tweeting about their gratitude toward Delevingne for normalizing the condition.
“At first I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I should cover this up, right?’
Sadly, this led the model to self-harm, and she has been very candid about this.
Delevingne’s experience is indicative of how self-harm can differ from how it is portrayed on TV and film.
“I never cut, but I’d scratch myself to the point of bleeding.
I just wanted to dematerialize and have someone sweep me away,” the model explained toVogue.
As Delevingne became more successful, she began to throw herself into her work as a means of escape.
“If I stop, I go crazy.
I lose my mind.
I just kind of break down a little bit,” she told Esquire.
“This was the beginning of mental health issues and inadvertent self-harm,” she recalled to Vogue.
Because dyspraxia affects the way thought coordinates with movement, it can make certain tasks seem especially challenging.
Like other performers with dyspraxia, such as Daniel Radcliffe and Florence Welch, Delevingne is high-functioning and ultra-talented.
CARA LOVES KARL was the model’s capsule collection, a collaboration with the legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld.
But instead of appearing at the event, Delevingne simply posted about it onInstagram.
“There’s an element of feeling invincible when I’m on drugs,” she told Vogue.
“I put myself in danger in those moments because I don’t care about my life.”
But soon after turning 30, she’d decided she’d had enough.
Still, she acknowledged the difficulty that may lie ahead.
And it’s not as simple as that.
It doesn’t happen overnight,” she told Vogue.
But we’re pulling for her as are her legions of loyal fans and devoted friends.
