Cara Delevingne says she could cope with criticism of her looks and acting, but scrutiny of her music felt unbearable while she was struggling with drugs. The 34-year-old released her debut album, Not Normal, in September after holding back from a music career.
“Not being a sober person, I was so all over the place, and was on the edge of so much self-hatred,” she said, explaining why she hadn’t felt able to put her songs out for judgment.
“Back then, I could just about cope with people telling me I’m not pretty or ugly or not good at acting, but I couldn’t deal with [scrutiny over my music]. I just wouldn’t have been able to hack it.”
Fiona Apple, 49, contributed to the album’s song “Need It.” Delevingne said they developed its verses by photographing handwritten Post-it Notes and sending the pictures to each other.
“Why did we not just send a Notes app screenshot?” Delevingne said. “You can’t really hear her as much in the music, but she’s just been an inspiration to me as a person and as an artist. I absolutely adore her.”
Delevingne has also described how difficult she found being recognized and how long she’d spent trying to numb herself during her younger years.
“I didn’t feel as grateful as I do now because it was just so intense, and I found that whirlwind of being recognised quite difficult,” she said. “I’m just open to anything at this point.”