Cara Delevingne became “completely suicidal” as a teenager and had to be taken out of school to undergo therapy, the model has said in a candid discussion about her struggle with depression.
Delevingne told the Women in the World summit on Friday she began experiencing symptoms of depression when she was 15, which eventually led to a breakdown.
“I really wanted to do well at school to please my parents and my family. I didn’t really care that much about school, because I knew I wasn’t very good at it. I think I pushed myself so far that I got to the point where I had a bit of a mental breakdown.
“I have very bad learning disabilities. If you look at my writing, it’s not good at all.”
Delevigne said she developed suicidal feelings, which quickly escalated. “I didn’t want to live anymore. I thought that I was completely alone. I wanted the world to swallow me up, and nothing seemed better than death.
She was then taken out of school, attended counselling and went on medication, before eventually leaving school at 17 and beginning her modelling career.
Delevigne said she struggled to say no to jobs, overworked herself and developed the skin condition psoriasis. It was Kate Moss who eventually stepped in and urged her to take time for herself.
“All those problems I had I masked with medicine instead of taking time to really solve them. But at that time I really wanted someone to stop me, to go ‘you need to take a break’ you need to look after yourself.“
“What happened is I eventually said no, I eventually took a break to the advice of Kate Moss who kind of picked me up off the floor.”
The 23-year-old read also poem about how depression affected her and said writing and yoga have helped her to cope with her illness.
Depression produces myriad physical and emotional symptoms in people of all ages. One in ten will experience depression at some point in their life. You can find out more about what to do if you feel depressed here, or contact the Samaritans for confidential advice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week by phone on 116 123 or by on email jo@samaritans.org.
