Cara Delevingne has opened up about her decision to leave the modelling industry. The 23-year-old daughter of Pandora Delevingne and Charles Hamar Delevingne, has worked with leading fashion houses including Burberry, Chanel, Mango and Yves Saint Lauren.
In a blog for Motto, the Suicide Squad actress talked about her experience in the industry. She wrote: "I started modeling when I was 16. The odds were against me. At 5'8″, I was shorter than most girls in the business. Still, I gave it a shot, and like with most things in my life, I never gave up."
"It took a while before I had stability in the business. I worked hard to be accepted by the fashion community in ways beyond my physical appearance. In no time, though, I found myself surrendering to the industry's approval process. I felt like I needed validation from everyone. As a result, I lost sight of myself and what it meant to be happy, what it meant to be successful. I think it all stemmed from a deep-down feeling of wanting people to like me and love me," Cara added.
"It's taken time, but now I realize that work isn't everything and success comes in many forms. I've opened my mind, and now I embrace new things with a childlike curiosity. I'm spending more time doing the stuff I love. And I've been able to do better work because of it," she continued.
Previously, during an interview with The Guardian, Cara said she would not want her future daughter to have a career in modelling. She said: "I'd say no, if that's all she aspired to. You know, I get a lot of girls who say, I just want to be a model so badly. And I think: you can do better than that. I mean, look, I do love it, I'm not saying anything bad about it, I just think you can do a lot more. I was incredibly lucky to do as well as I've done, it's not easy, there's so many models go through so much shit, and it's just, if you have a brain, which everyone does, use it and try and do something else."
