Cara Delevingne wishes she had LGBTQ+ role models growing up: ‘I would have not been so ashamed’

‘I do think I would have hated myself less,’ she says.

(Getty Images)

Cara Delevingne has continued to speak out about her sexuality and detailed how she wishes she had LGBTQ + roles models growing up.

Speaking to UK’s Harper’s Bazaar on January 31, Delevingne, 29, noted that since she came out as pansexual in 2017, she’s had a lot of conversations about sexual fluidity. However, she noted that if she had LGBTQ+ models to look up to during her teenage years, it could have made a big difference to her childhood.

“I do think I would have hated myself less, I would have not been so ashamed, if I’d had someone,” she said.

“The one thing I’m happy about growing up queer and fighting it and hiding it is it gives me so much fire and drive to try to make people’s lives easier in some way by talking about it,” the model added.

This isn’t the first time Delevingne has opened up about coming to terms with her sexuality.

In March 2021, Delevingne was featured on an episode of Gwyneth Paltrow’s podcast, “The Goop Podcast,” where she confessed that she was once “disgusted” by the idea of same-sex relationships.

“I grew up in an old-fashioned household,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone who was gay.  I didn’t know that was a thing and actually, I think growing up … I wasn’t knowledgeable of the fact I was homophobic.”

“The idea of being [with] same-sex [partners], I was disgusted by that, in myself. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I would never. That’s disgusting, ugh,’” she added.

The Carnival Row star said that when she was struggling with her sexuality, it began to affect her mentally.

“I do correlate the massive depression and the suicidal moments of my life [to that] because I was so ashamed of ever being that,” she explained. “But actually, that was the part of me that I love so much and accept.”

Ultimately, over time, Delevingne learned how to embrace who she was and feel “comfortable” with it.

“I feel so much more comfortable in the fluidity of what it is to be just a human and to be an animal, almost, because that’s what we are,” she said. “To trust in your own instincts.”

Speaking to Variety in 2020 about her identity, the actress noted how pansexual, meaning she’s attracted to every gender, is the main way she describes herself.

“I always will remain, I think, pansexual,” she said. “However one defines themselves, whether it’s ‘they’ or ‘he’ or ‘she,’ I fall in love with the person — and that’s that. I’m attracted to the person.”

She also acknowledged how being honest about her sexuality was a big moment for her.

“Once I could talk about my sexuality freely, I wasn’t hiding anything anymore,” she added. “And the person I hid it from the most was myself.”