The bill for this week’s Women In the World summit included speakers ranging from Meryl Streep to the Home Secretary, Theresa May. Also on the line up was Mervat Alsman, a Syrian refugee currently living in Birmingham and Yeonmi Park, who defected and escaped from North Korea.
Despite the wide range of important and inspiring voices Cara Delevigne was one of the most anticipated speakers and the roomed filled to hear her in conversation with Rupert Everett.
Cara arrived at the venue with BFF Kendall Jenner in tow and came on stage in high heels and immediately kicked them off before talking incredibly openly about her career so far and her experiences of depression.
Talking about her move from modelling to acting Cara said that self-esteem is the key. ‘The most important journey all of us go through is the journey in ourselves, she said.’
‘I want to tell young girls mental illness and depression are not something to be ashamed of’ she said, speaking about her own experiences of both. ‘I wish I had realised that at the time, that you’re not alone, that you’re not an alien.’
Cara says what she has learned along the way is that ‘supporting each other and communicating is the most important thing.’
She’s left the modelling world and says it’s not an easy place to be, ‘you’re constantly told you’re not tall enough, not pretty enough, not slim enough’. She says that when girls tell her they want to be models she tells them to ‘dream bigger’. She did also acknowledged that acting has its pitfalls too, however.
Cara said that she found it difficult to say no to people who were causing her to burn out, she felt the weight of her privilege, ‘I felt like I never deserved any of it, that I was living someone else’s dream’ she said. It was Kate Moss, apparently, who stepped in and told her to slow down, helping to pull her out of her depression.
‘Love yourself no matter what’. Delevigne says she has realised that ‘flaws are the things that make us special, the cracks within us are the beautiful parts that need to have light shone on them’, she said.
Finally, Cara said ‘women are great…they’re wonderful creatures. Women are the givers of life.’
The crowd began to applaud before Cara said ‘I have one other thing to say’. Cue immediate silence, you’ve never seen a crowd quieten down so quickly. ‘Be comfortable in your own shoes, because you’re going to be in them for a while…which apparently I am not!’
Amen!
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.