Cara Delevingne opened up about her friend Minke and her sobriety in a candid new interview.
The 30-year-old model appeared on the cover of the September issue of SHE UKlooking amazing in a black bra under a matching cardigan.
She shared some rare comments about her relationship, gushing about Minke, whose real name is Leah Mason.
Cara said: “My girlfriend has been really great, introducing me to a lot of things and people.
“Being with my girlfriend, in this relationship, there are so many things that have come at once that have made me so happy and comfortable with who I am.”
Honest: Cara Delevingne opened up about her friend Minke and her sobriety in a candid new interview
Cara and Minke have kept a low profile since confirming their budding romance last year.
The supermodel, who came out as pansexual in 2020, revealed to Vogue during a recent interview last year in August.
“It was more that I just decided to put my cards on the table and say look, I’m in love, I’m in love with who I’m in love with,” she said of “coming out.”
“I stopped being ashamed of who I love and who I am. So for me it was more of just telling myself that love is love and we should be able to love whoever we want.
Cara also talks about her journey to sobriety and how the lifestyle change has affected her.
She admitted: “No (it was easy), but there was never a moment where I was like, ‘This isn’t worth it.’ It was worth every second. I just don’t know what it would take for me to give it up. I am stable. I’m calmer.
She continued: “I used to not believe myself. I kept thinking. There was a lot of anxiety. Now I just feel free from it.
Cara added that going public with her struggles was also very freeing, as it felt like a weight lifted.
She said: “For a long time I felt like I was hiding a lot from the people who were looking at me. I finally feel like I can be free and myself, completely.
It comes after Cara revealed she checked herself into rehab after “heartbreaking” photos published by DailyMail.com last year woke her up.
She said she was reflecting on her struggles with mental health and battle with addiction after causing concern with a series of troubled public appearances.
Speaking of Vogue magazine as their April cover star, she admitted she wasn’t “ready” to face her demons until she was in a “bad place.”
She explained: “I had interventions but I wasn’t ready. This is the problem.
“I hadn’t seen a therapist in three years. I just pushed everyone away, which made me realize what a bad place I was.
Disturbing images from September showed the 30-year-old looking nervous and anxious outside Van Nuys Airport as she wandered around in dirty socks and no shoes.
The pictures caused concern among her fans for her health as she appeared with sunken dark eyes while smoking a pipe in her car.
According to DailyMail.com’s sources, the former ‘IT girl’ appeared to be unable to control her body movements at certain times after stepping outside and making a phone call.
Despite being two hours late for a private jet flight, she was seen wandering around outside as she looked stretched as if she couldn’t stop moving.
The “Murder Only in the Building” star later said that being visited by friends and family during her crisis made her realize how much she was loved.
Cara continued: “I’ve always thought that work should be done when times are bad, but actually work should be done when times are good.
“The work must be done consistently. It will never be fixed or completely healed, but I’m okay with that and that’s the difference.
Her well-being was at the forefront of the concern of her friends and family last year after she was filmed behaving erratically on various occasions.
The model explained that she lied to herself about her health and it was only when she saw herself in the photos from the airport that she realized she needed help.
“I hadn’t slept.” I wasn’t well, she explained. “It’s heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at one point it was like, ‘Okay, I don’t look good.’
“You know, sometimes you need a reality check, so in a way, these pictures were something to be thankful for.”
She admitted that she had many “shallow” relationships because she held back her emotions so as not to “burden” anyone and because of her fear of abandonment.
“If you ask any of my friends, they’d say they’ve never seen me cry,” she admitted.
“Since September, I just needed support. I had to start stretching. And my old friends that I’ve known since I was 13 all came and we started crying. They looked at me and said, “You deserve a chance to be happy.”
Through her work in therapy, Cara realized that she needed to stop chasing the idea of a “quick fix” for healing and committed to following the 12-step program.
She explained: “I used to always be into quick healing, going to a week-long retreat or a trauma course, say, and that would help for a minute, but it never got to the little, deeper things.”
The September issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 27 July.
For help with alcohol problems in the UK please contact Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) on 0800 9177 650. For drug problems talk to FRANK on 0300 123 6600.
If you need help with drug or alcohol problems in the US, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357)