Cara Delevingne Opens Up About Getting Sober and How It Helped Her Career

In an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times, the supermodel reflected on her sobriety journey since photos of of her at an airport in 2022 went viral, concerning fans.

“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 told the publication.

“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,” the 31-year-old added.

She also explained that she would still be affected by the devastating fire that completely destroyed her house in March if she wasn’t sober.

“It sucks but everyone was safe and, like anything, if I’d not been sober I would still be reeling over that. It would still affect me really deeply,” she said before adding that she is still sad about it but does not let it keep her down.

A catastrophic fire burnt down Delevingne’s Los Angeles home earlier this year. The blaze began in the dead of night and required a massive response from the fire department. Fortunately everyone — including her two cats — made it out alive, but her house was overtaken by flames. The Only Murders In The Building star was in London at the time.

Along with being able to look at the fire in a more positive way, Delevingne also revealed that her sobriety has made her realize how alike she is to her mother, Pandora Delevingne.

“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, her mother had her own addiction battle and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. “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.”

Delevingne has been open with her own past, too, revealing that she entered rehab after paparazzi photos of her and reports about her behavior started painting a concerning picture of the model in 2022. Speaking with Vogue in 2023 she opened up about her turbulent year and her ongoing battle with addiction.

She admitted she spiraled out of control in 2022 ahead of her 30th birthday. She explained that when concerning photos were snapped of her, she had just returned from a three-week stint in Ibiza, followed by a trip to Burning Man.

“That’s when the pictures were taken. I was like, ‘Wow, okay, this is bad.’ At that point, there were a lot of people who were really worried, understandably so,” she recalled in a video for Vogue. “I wasn’t really worried though. That is the nature of the disease, that is what addiction is.”

“I was not okay,” she also told the publication. “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.”

At the time, Delevingne said she was devoted to a long-term healing process, entering a 12-step program and weekly therapy sessions.