Cara Delevingne joined 12-step programme as lifestyle was not ‘sustainable’

Cara Delevingne has said she has joined a 12-step programme and admitted “sometimes you need a reality check”, while reflecting on her recent decision to go sober.

The 30-year-old model and actress found fame as the face of luxury British fashion house Burberry in 2011.

Speaking to British Vogue, Delevingne said: “Before I was always into the quick fix of healing, going to a weeklong retreat or to a course for trauma, say, and that helped for a minute, but it didn’t ever really get to the nitty-gritty, the deeper stuff.

“This time I realised that 12-step treatment was the best thing, and it was about not being ashamed of that.”

Delevingne acknowledged a series of images that were taken of her at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles last year and spoke about how they encouraged her to consider sobriety.

“It’s heart-breaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, okay, I don’t look well,” she said.

Delevingne added: “You know, sometimes you need a reality check, so in a way those pictures were something to be grateful for.”

After celebrating her 30th birthday last summer, Delevingne said the milestone encouraged her to reassess the way she was living her life.

“I always kind of knew that things were going to have to be different in my 30s, because the way that I was living was not sustainable,” she said.

Having found fame as a model, Delevingne branched into acting with a minor role in Joe Wright’s 2012 adaptation of Anna Karenina.

She later went on to secure leading roles in Paper Towns and Suicide Squad.

Looking back on her career, Delevingne said: “If you have problems going into this industry, they will only get magnified and exacerbated.

“There is nothing about it that makes it better.”

Delevingne also spoke candidly about her her mother’s struggle with addiction and how she previously dealt with it, saying: “For a long time, I didn’t really put myself in her shoes.

“I just needed someone to be angry at and I was angry at her, but it wasn’t her fault…

“The way that addiction took my mother from me was brutal, and it was brutal for her too.”

The full interview with Cara Delevingne is available in British Vogue now.