Cara Delevingne reveals she suffered a near-fatal overdose during her drug addiction and says 'I wanted to die' as she recalls the 'horrible' fallout from viral Burning Man photo

Cara Delevingne has revealed she suffered a near-fatal overdose at the height of her drug addiction, after admitting she lost multiple modelling jobs due to her struggles.

The model, 33, has previously opened up about her battles with addiction, which led her to check herself into a 12-step program after photos emerged of the star looking dishevelled and jittery at Van Nuys airport.

Cara has now shared that she was rushed to hospital and given a dose of naloxone after overdosing on what she believed was 'opiates in cocaine.'

She also reflected on the 'horrible' fallout from the snaps that showed her in a dishevelled state while leaving the Burning Man Festival, admitting she'd had a 'seizure' just minutes before due to the drugs she'd taken at the festival. 

Sharing the impact her drug addiction had on her career, Cara said: 'Yeah, it's not a good look. As a model, you're meant to upkeep the brand's standards in some way. Like, it's in contracts that you sign. 

'It went super quiet. Everyone went very silent. And I knew I needed to get sober, so I medically was weaned off GBL (gamma-butyrolactone), which probably is the hardest one to come off. 

'But I couldn't do it at home. I couldn't deal because the more sober I got, the more I realised how badly I f***ed up, and that just was too much.'

Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Cara added: 'So, I couldn't stay sober, and then I overdosed because I think there was opiates in the cocaine I think I'd bought or something. 

'So I was narcanned [given a dose of naloxone, which reverses the impacts of opioid overdose], was in hospital, and that's really when everything happened because when I woke up.'

Louis explained: 'For people who don't know, it’s the kind of quick fix, knocks the fentanyl off your neuroreceptors. You're revived almost in the middle of overdosing.'

Cara then added: 'Yeah. It's heavy. I was being held down by men to a thing, and I didn't know what was happening. It was horrible,' sharing that it was her girlfriend who called the police and ambulance following her overdose.

She added when she woke up from the overdose she 'wanted to die,' as she struggled with withdrawal symptoms.

'What you've just put people you love through, and you see the pain in their face. The shame. Oh, that makes me want to cry, and it's horrible,' she said.

'It's hard to forgive yourself for that. That was one of the most painful things that's happened to me, so doing that to someone else is really rough.'

Cara went on to speak about the 'rock bottom' of the snaps taken of her in 2022 while she was at an airport leaving Burning Man.

At the time, she was seen looking jittery while outside of Van Nuys airport. At one point, she walked around only in her socks and held a conversation on the phone while smoking. 

She said: 'Dishevelled. Yeah, mentally unwell for sure, not lack of sleep. I’d just had a seizure. I was not sober, for sure.

'I was taking a lot of drugs, there was a certain amount of time we had to leave, and I always over pack for Burning Man. 

'I was just carrying loads of suitcases, and my body just couldn't take it, and I had a seizure. Which again, never seen myself have a seizure, but I've had a bunch.'

Describing the seizure as 'drug-induced,' Cara explained: 'Got home, desperately trying to find more drugs because I hadn't slept. Maybe found some drugs at the house, did them, went to the airport, got out without shoes. 

'I had so much stuff in my hair, after Burning Man, I hadn't showered probably, so there's just sand. Hair looks crazy. 

'You can just see it in the eyes. I look absolutely wild and feral and not well, and I'm just smoking a cigarette, wearing a Free Britney T-shirt or something.'

Louis asked whether the images sparked the beginning of her 'recovery journey,' and Cara replied: 'Yeah, for sure because people saw it. It was everywhere. I lost jobs. That sucked. People were really worried. That sucked. I got so many messages. It was horrible.'

Cara has previously shared that one of her biggest problems was with ketamine after she started experimenting with drugs at the age of 14.

Opening up on the latest episode of Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper, Cara detailed her troubled teenage years and battle with substance abuse.

The singer said: 'Because I didn’t have money at that point, I started buying drugs to sell them and to do them.

'When I bought the drugs to sell, I just did them all by myself. Not all of them. I sold half of them, did the rest.

'So I basically did the drugs for free. Wasn’t a great drug dealer.'

The actress added: 'I loved what drugs made me feel. I loved not having to think about my mum.

'I loved not having to feel the pressure of not being good at school, not feeling good enough or loving myself. All of that went away.'

Cara said it was the moment her drug use escalated where she began taking acid 'every day' and suffered terrifying hallucinations.

She recalled: 'I thought that my dad was God and my mum was the devil and I had to kill her to save the end of the world. Like, I lost my mind.'

Cara said her mental health deteriorated so badly she had breakdown at 15-years-old.

She explained: 'I just became suicidal. My whole world exploded and I was like, "I think everything I’ve thought for the last 15 years is wrong".

'My brain was absolutely in turmoil. I would just try and knock myself out physically because I wanted to escape.'

While talking to Variety last year in May, Cara opened up about being sober and stated, 'You're not alone.'

She then encouraged, 'If I can do it, anyone can. But you need to communicate and be honest about it as much as you can - especially with yourself.

'I think that's what I've always done with anything in this business. Whether it's been being vocal about anxiety, depression, recovery, anything, it's just you owe it to people to talk about your struggles...

'Because being in this world is not perfect. No one is perfect. So to be honest, it's the least I can do.'

And during an interview with Vogue, Cara got candid about her decision to check into the 12-step program in 2022.

'Before I was always into the quick fix of healing, going to a weeklong retreat or to a course for trauma, say, and that helped for a minute, but it didn't ever really get to the nitty-gritty, the deeper stuff.'

The model explained, 'This time I realized that 12-step treatment was the best thing, and it was about not being ashamed of that.

'The community made a huge difference. The opposite of addiction is connection, and I really found that in 12-step.'

The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

If you have been affected by this story, call FRANK on 0300 123 6600.