Cara Delevingne has opened up about the extent of her drug addiction, revealing that she suffered a seizure from GHB withdrawal while attempting to get sober.
The British model and actor, who last week released her first music since 2019, previously revealed that she checked herself into substance abuse rehab after seeing paparazzi photos of herself and realising that she was in a “bad” place.
In a new interview on the podcast Call Her Daddy, Delevingne, 33, opened up about hitting rock bottom in 2022 before getting sober. “If people thought it was bad what they saw, they didn’t see half of it. The damage was really being done alone,” she said.
Having previously revealed that she first got drunk aged eight, Delevingne explained that her fast-paced, jet-setting lifestyle made it hard for others to know the extent of her partying; while she could talk about having “a problem” while under the influence of drugs, she couldn’t when sober.
At this point in 2022, Delevingne explained, she’d stopped using ketamine and drinking, and was instead favouring "dissociative, knock-yourself-out things”.
She was taking GHB, a “date-rape drug” sometimes referred to as “liquid ecstasy” that can make users feel euphoric drowsy, and using cocaine to keep herself awake.
After an intense “blow out” for her 30th birthday, Delevingne decided to stop using GHB. But having taken the drug, which acts as a central nervous system depressant, on a daily basis, Delevingne suffered some intense side effects.
“I took it every day. I didn’t know that you really had to like medically detox from it and I started having seizures,” she told Cooper.
Around this time, Delevingne was photographed not wearing any shoes at Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles. Discussing the paparazzi shots, Delevingne explained that she’d gone from her birthday to Burning Man festival when she’d suffered a seizure from GHB withdrawal.
“Those photos were taken right after I’d had a seizure at Burning Man and I was meant to go to work. It was just an absolute storm.”
In 2023, Delevingne said that the post-Burning Man photos had been a “reality check”.
“It’s heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, ‘Okay, I don’t look well.’ You know, sometimes you need a reality check, so in a way those pictures were something to be grateful for,” she told Vogue.
“All I knew is if I was continuing to go down the road I was, I would either end up dead or, like, doing something really, really stupid. And I think that was really scary.”
If you or someone you know is suffering from drug addiction, you can seek confidential help and support 24-7 from Frank, by calling 0300 123 6600, texting 82111, sending an email or visiting their website here.
In the US, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration can be reached at 1-800-662-HELP
