It’s hard out here for a top fashion model, even ones heralded as the pinnacle of beauty. Cara Deleivngne spoke to the Sunday Times about the pressures of being a model, which were so intense, she wound up suffering from bouts of stress-related psoriasis. It got so bad that they started painting over her skin during catwalk shows. “It wasn’t just one show. It was every single show. People would put on gloves and not want to touch me because they thought it was, like, leprosy or something,” she explained.
Delevingne also touched on the uncomfortable, sexually suggestive shoots she had to participate in at the beginning of her career, shoots that many models like her feel they have to do in order to be successful. “I am a bit of a feminist and it makes me feel sick,” she said. “It’s horrible and it’s disgusting. [We’re talking about] young girls. You start when you are really young and you do, you get subjected to … not great stuff.”
“I think you get that [sexual harassment] in every industry,” she continued. “I don’t think it’s just modelling, although I think it’s worse in modelling. There are male photographers who go into it purely because of the girls. But in every industry, if you are pretty, or someone likes the look of you … It’s not good.”
Delevingne also revealed that she has been the victim of casting couch creepiness herself, noting that she’s experienced sketchy behavior “a little.” But she says she doesn’t take it lying down. “I am very good at standing up for myself now, and for other people. If there is injustice I will flip out. If someone is crossing a line, they will know about it and so will everyone else. I’m not about brushing things under the carpet”
[via Sunday Times]
