Cara Delevingne is the cover star of Vogue's April 2023 issue and opened up for the accompanying cover story about everything from committing to sobriety to turning 30.
The model and actress was photographed outdoors by Annie Leibovitz. For the cover shot, Delevingne wears a black motorcycle jacket, white top, frayed jeans and black brogues. Her makeup is simple and her hair is wind-swept.
Delevingne is posed alongside a quote that reads, "I was not okay: Cara Delevingne starts over."
Delevingne revealed the cover on Instagram Wednesday along with a touching caption.
"Every single story is important and this is mine," she wrote. "We are all human. Of course we will fall and make mistakes. We will walk through really hard things in life but it's how we get back up again. We can learn and heal."
"Hard times are not final," she continued. "Difficult circumstances don't have to hold us down or define us. There is hope. Always hope. Right here, I am grateful and proud and ready for all that is to come. Remember it is never to late change the direction of your story."
She concluded, "To anyone out there still struggling, don't give up, you are not alone."
Since posting, the model has received an outpouring of support from fans, friends and fellow models.
"Proud of u & rooting for u Cbaby!," Gigi Hadid wrote in the comments of Delevingne's post.
Karlie Kloss also shared some love. "Love you CD," she commented.
Actress Selma Blair chimed in as well, writing, "So proud of you. Your openness helps us feel less shame. I love you Cara. So happy for you. Congratulations. It's a new life. Best thing I could ever do was put that addiction out of my life."
Writer, survivalist and "Man vs. Wild" star Bear Grylls also left support for Delevingne in the comments, writing, "You're a fighter and you have a great heart… never give up. 🙌❤️."
Delevingne previously appeared on an episode of Grylls' National Geographic show "Running Wild With Bear Grylls" in 2019.
Fans became concerned last year after photos of Delevingne surfaced showing her looking disheveled and without shoes.
"I hadn't slept," she told Vogue. "I was not okay. 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."
Like many others, Delevingne said she also dealt with depression during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns and said she had difficulty finding a sense of belonging and self-worth.
"I just wasn't worth anything without work, and that was scary," said Delevingne, calling it "a really sad time."
Delevingne said she checked herself into rehab last year after realizing how much of a "bad place" she was in mentally. She said she also committed to a 12-step program.
"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," se said. "This time I realized that 12-step treatment was the best thing, and it was about not being ashamed of that. The community made a huge difference. The opposite of addiction is connection, and I really found that in 12-step."
On the road to recovery, and leaving behind everything that came with her 20s, Delevingne said she knew things in her 30s needed to be different since the way she was living previously didn't feel sustainable.
To usher in the new decade, she said she threw an "Alice in Wonderland"-themed birthday party. "It was like a funeral for my previous life, a goodbye to an era," she said. "And so I decided I was going to party as hard as I could because this was the end."
Vogue's April 2023 issue will be available on newsstands nationwide starting March 21.
