Cara Delevingne almost died from an overdose while attempting to get sober.
Cara Delevingne almost died from an overdose while attempting to get sober.
The 33-year-old model, actress, and musician realised she needed to change after she began losing work, but she “couldn’t deal” with the ways she had messed up and ended up taking too many substances, which led to her needing to be revived by medics.
Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, she said: “It went super quiet. Everyone went very silent.
“And I knew I needed to get sober, so I medically was weaned off GBL, which probably is the hardest one to come off.
“But I couldn’t do it at home. I couldn’t deal because the more sober I got, the more I realised how badly I f***** up, and that just was too much.
“So, I couldn’t stay sober, and then I overdosed because I think there was opiates in the cocaine I think I’d bought or something.
“I was narcanned [given a dose of naloxone, which reverses the impacts of opioid overdose], was in hospital, and that’s really when everything happened because when I woke up….
“[It was] the ambulance people. It’s heavy. I was being held down by men to a thing, and I didn’t know what was happening. It was horrible.
“My girlfriend [had] called the police. The ambulance, police, whatever. Horrible for her.”
When she came round, Cara “wanted to die”.
She explained: “Immediately. I was like, ‘I can’t’.
“What you’ve just put people you love through, and you see the pain in their face. The shame. Oh, that makes me want to cry, and it’s horrible. It’s hard to forgive yourself for that. That was one of the most painful things that’s happened to me, so doing that to someone else is really rough.”
In 2022, photos of the Paper Towns actress looking “dishevelled” after Burning Man festival went viral, and Cara admitted her drug taking had led to her having a seizure shortly before the pictures were taken.
She said: “[I was] mentally unwell for sure, not lack of sleep. I’d just had a seizure. I was not sober, for sure.
“I was taking a lot of drugs, there was a certain amount of time we had to leave, and I always over pack for Burning Man. I was just carrying loads of suitcases, and my body just couldn’t take it, and I had a seizure. Which again, never seen myself have a seizure, but I’ve had a bunch.
“Drug induced. Yeah, either lack of drugs or too many drugs.
“So no one saw that. Got home, desperately trying to find more drugs because I hadn’t slept.
“Maybe found some drugs at the house, did them, went to the airport, got out without shoes. I had so much stuff in my hair, after Burning Man, I hadn’t showered probably, so there’s just sand. Hair looks crazy. You can just see it in the eyes. I look absolutely wild and feral and not well, and I’m just smoking a cigarette, wearing a Free Britney T-shirt or something.”
Cara admitted the moment sparked a turning point.
She said: “Yeah, for sure because people saw it. It was everywhere. I lost jobs. That sucked. People were really worried. That sucked. I got so many messages. It was horrible.”
Asked if she lost jobs because it wasn’t “a good look”, she replied: “Yeah, it’s not a good look. As a model, you’re meant to upkeep the brand’s standards in some way. Like, it’s in contracts that you sign.
“So, they didn’t directly fire me because of it, but they didn’t renew contracts.”
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.
Cara Delevingne reflects on overdose and sobriety
