Cara Delevingne glows in elegant red dress at 2023 Oscars after sharing about sobriety
Cara Delevingne is stepping into her glow, days after opening up about her sobriety journey on the cover of Vogue.
The model stunned on the champagne carpet at the 2023 Oscars Sunday in a red, off-the-shoulder Elie Saab gown with a sky-high slit and sleek bun.
Earlier in the week, the model, 30, opened up in Vogue's April issue that she had a wake-up call shortly after her milestone birthday after seeing paparazzi photos of herself looking haggard in September.
"It’s heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, 'OK, I don’t look well,'" Delevingne, 30, said in the cover story published Wednesday. "You know, sometimes you need a reality check."
At the time, tabloids compared Delevingne to her mother, Pandora Delevingne, 63, who has shared publicly about her struggles with bipolar disorder and addiction.
Drew Barrymore says therapist quit due to concern over post-divorce drinking habits
The art of celebrity authenticity: Taylor Swift's 'Anti-Hero,' Prince Harry's 'Spare'
She took the photos as a sign to step back from alcohol and other substances that she had been using to avoid personal struggles. Later in 2022, the "Only Murders in the Building" actress checked herself into rehab – at the time, she hadn't seen a therapist in three years, she told the outlet.
"I just kind of pushed everyone away, which made me realize how much I was in a bad place," she said. "I always thought that the work needs to be done when the times are bad, but actually the work needs to be done when they’re good. The work needs to be done consistently. It’s never going to be fixed or fully healed but I’m okay with that, and that’s the difference."
Delevingne shared the Vogue cover on Instagram with a call to action for others who may be struggling.
"We are all human. Of course we will fall and make mistakes," she wrote in the caption. "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. Difficult circumstances don’t have to hold us down or define us. There is hope. Always hope."
She ended the post with a reminder: "Remember it is never to (sic) late change the direction of your story. To anyone out there still struggling, don’t give up, you are not alone."
In the cover story, the model says her first memory of alcohol misuse occurred when she was 7 years old.
"I woke up in my granny’s house in my bedroom with a hangover, in a bridesmaid’s dress,” Delevingne said. “I’d gone around nailing glasses of Champagne.”
Other substance introductions included prescription medications as early as age 10, when she started taking sleeping pills to help with insomnia and was given a diagnosis of dyspraxia, which impacts coordination. At 15 she was put on antidepressants after a breakdown to help with feelings of isolation, which she said "saved my life."
'I was so lost': Bradley Cooper opens up about addiction, Will Arnett helping him get sober
Split with Ashley Benson, grandmother's death impacted Delevingne
Following low points during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown including the end of her relationship with Ashley Benson and the loss of her grandmother, Delevingne dove into a stretch of partying as she turned 30.
"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 told Vogue.
"I was welcoming in this new time but I was also grieving. 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.”
Delevingne said she hung onto the idea of "quick fix" healing, but never took the time to get into the "deeper stuff."
“I realized that 12-step treatment was the best thing, and it was about not being ashamed of that," she said. "The community made a huge difference. The opposite of addiction is connection, and I really found that in 12-step.”
As Delevingne moves forward, she's taking other steps: She's in weekly therapy, practices yoga and meditates.
"People want my story to be this after-school special where I just say, ‘Oh look, I was an addict, and now I’m sober and that’s it.’ And it’s not as simple as that," she said.
She has eyes on the future, too, including the possibility of having children, she told Vogue, noting she hopes to freeze her eggs one day.
"I’ve wanted a kid since I was 16,” Delevingne said. “I want babies so bad."
I'm single at 35 and want a family: This decision brought an immense amount of relief.
If you're concerned you might have a problem with alcohol, the NIAAA Rethinking Drinking website can help you evaluate their relationship with alcohol and decide how to proceed. For information about alcohol treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cara Delevingne glows at 2023 Oscars after Vogue cover about sobriety
