Supermodel’s sex toy confession

From the runway to Hollywood, Cara Delevingne is used to pushing boundaries. Now, in a candid interview with Stellar she talks about dating, sexism, and her latest acting role.

Stellar: You started as a model for Chanel and Victoria’s Secret before moving into acting. Previously you’ve said, “Acting has made me realise I don’t know who the f*ck I am.” Do you still feel like that?

Cara Delevingne: I don’t feel so defined by labels. I know innately there’s a place inside of me that’s sacred and no-one can touch it, what I believe to be the things I love. I always try to lead with [love] – it’s hard sometimes. It had to start with myself, too. [With] acting, I realised I enjoyed being other people [more] than I enjoyed being myself, which was sad. And I had to understand why. I was scared of really knowing myself because what if I didn’t like myself? Something changed when I turned 30… and I feel better than I have in a long time in terms of being comfortable in who I am.

S: How does acting challenge you in a way that modelling doesn’t?

CD: Modelling challenged me in that everything was about knowing where cameras were – knowing angles and knowing lighting. As an actor, it’s the opposite – you shouldn’t care what you look like and you need to go with reality. Modelling is the opposite of reality; it’s this glamorised version. I prefer to be grounded in reality and to be “ugly” and real and all the bits that people don’t see. To be able to do that is challenging, especially if you’re trained to look good all the time or be perfect. I was acting when I was modelling because that’s not me – I don’t like wearing makeup every day. I can’t spend an hour getting ready.

S: Carnival Row, the fantasy drama series in which you star with Orlando Bloom, is back for a second and final season. Although your character, Vignette, is not human, she is an empowered woman, a common trait in your work from Paper Towns to Suicide Squad. What draws you to roles like that?

CD: I love playing strong females and I think every woman is strong in a different way – the adversity she comes up against, in that way she has to fight. Pressure makes a diamond, and in that sense, Vignette is just one of a kind. But she’s also flawed and vulnerable and learns a lot about herself and also has to kind of put her needs aside to do the best she can for the common good. For all the other roles I get drawn to, I don’t know whether I get drawn to it or whether it comes to me; I’m not sure.

S: Perhaps it’s subconscious?

CD: It’s not a conscious thing. I am very much being free and being who I am, flawed and human, but also, I think there’s a lot to fight for in this world and I will never not do that.

Cara Delevingne: ‘The things that I was most fearful of were things that I needed to conquer…confronting real issues and feelings.’ Picture: Getty Images

S: Have you always felt free?

CD: Freedom to me as a child was really big, but I think as I got older… I had to let everything go because you can’t control anything apart from yourself. I always had this fake confidence covering up a lack of self-belief. I cared so much what other people thought; I was people-pleasing a lot. Now, I want to be me, whatever that means. It’s letting go of whatever. “Let it gooooo” [sung to the tune from Frozen].

S: You’re open about your sexuality and sexual identity (Delevingne identifies as pansexual). Did you always feel confident speaking about these topics?

CD: No, not at all – that was not a household I grew up in. It was not a subject matter that was broached by family or friends, ever. The things that I was most fearful of were things that I needed to conquer… confronting real issues and feelings, all of those things I wasn’t brought up to do. I wanted, especially for our generation, [for] people to see the realistic view of how hard that is. And gosh, if I can do that on camera, maybe then I’ll do it in life? When the idea for [the 2022 documentary series Planet Sex With Cara Delevingne, which she hosted] came about, I started asking everyone, all the time [about sex and love], having the most incredible conversations.

S: What questions did you ask?

CD: I’d ask about when they were first in love. Like, a lot of men I’d speak to loved being single, but it was because they’d been hurt… and they’d just decided to treat women badly. I’d always ask men, “Do you think you’d be able to tell if you made a woman come or if they were faking it?” Or [women], “How many times have you faked an orgasm?” [There’s a] global stigma, especially as a woman, on talking about sex, asking for pleasure and what you want and what you like, and always wanting to please a man, that I wanted to kind of break through.

S: Are the sexual health and pleasure industries mainstream now?

CD: My friend asked me the other day, “The vibrator you gave me isn’t working and I really need a new one, so please, what do I do?” She’s got a boyfriend, [so] it’s pretty chill now. When I was young, if you were a girl who masturbated, that was rough, that was gross. So girls are just masturbating in private, whereas men are talking about f*cking wanking all

the time. Am I allowed to swear?

S: Go on…

CD: I say swear words to people I love a lot. When you say a swear word, it releases endorphins more so than most other words. Sometimes you can’t describe how you feel and a swear word does it.

Cara Delevingne features in this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar.

S: Your style is androgynous and your Met Gala outfits, like last year’s painted-on gold bra, have been provocative. What’s your current fashion era?

CD: I feel like I have really stepped into my 30s in a more calm and considered chic [style]. I’ll always have a punk element about me, but I’m more demure – as demure as I can be because I’m not a demure person. My statement is a gender-fluid look, easygoing, in my day to day because I just want to be comfy a lot of the time.

S: The theme of this year’s Met Gala (at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1) is Karl Lagerfeld, the late Chanel creative director and fashion designer to whom you were a muse. How do you feel about that?

CD: It’s so amazing, and what a person to [honour].

The second and final season of Carnival Row premieres on Friday on Prime Video.

Originally published as Supermodel’s sex toy confession