Fashion

Cara Delevingne Opens Up About Battling Depression

at the women in the world summit

Over the past few months, model turned actress Cara Delevingne has made it very clear that she's over the modeling industry. While she was in the speaker's seat with Rupert Everett at the Women In The World summit in London last week, Cara further explained her reasoning behind steering away from the industry that ultimately launched her career. 

"I had no concept of saying no to anyone, ever," she said. "After a while I got sick and got a condition called psoriasis. I felt disconnected from myself, but my agency simply shoved me into a doctor's surgery, where I got cortisone shots, but—in reality—I wanted someone to stop me, but nobody did."

Cara went on to expose some of the abusive relationships she witnessed between young models and photographers and agencies, and how overworking herself ultimately drove her to struggling with physical and mental illnesses. “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.' And no-one did," she added. 

Despite the sensitive subject matter, Cara actually seemed comfortable about opening up and getting personal. (She even kicked off her heels in the middle of the discussion.) On internally battling depression, Cara said, "I wanted the world to swallow me up, and nothing seemed better to me than death." After eventually following the advice of supermodel and mentor Kate Moss, Cara took a break from the field. She managed to recover from the difficult period through yoga and writing, and cites the practices for saving her life.

Watch the intimate interview in full above.