The 23-year-old British beauty started modelling when she was only 10, and quickly shot to supermodel fame as a young woman after being scouted by Burberry in 2012.
She's since strutted down runways worldwide and posed for major high-fashion glossies. But in a a recent interview with The Times, the model-turned-actress spoke about the dark side of the industry that left her unfulfilled and hating her body.
"Modelling just made me feel a bit hollow after a while," she told the magazine. "It didn't make me grow at all as a human being. And I kind of forgot how young I was … I felt so old."
The "Paper Towns" star said the constant demands of the industry took a toll on her mental and physical health, and even caused her to develop the skin condition psoriasis.
"I was, like, fight and flight for months. Just constantly on edge," she told The Times. "It is a mental thing as well because if you hate yourself and your body and the way you look, it just gets worse and worse."
She also criticized the industry for sexualizing young models. As a teenager and new model, she told The Times she had felt unable to say no to sexual poses.
"I'm a bit of a feminist and it makes me feel sick. It's horrible and disgusting," she told the magazine. "You start when you are really young and you do, you get subjected to … not great stuff."
This isn't the first time the the actress has spoken publicly about her frustrations with the industry. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in May, Delevingne revealed that she had been pressured to lose weight.
Nevertheless, the future is looking bright for Delevingne, who told The Times she's feeling much more at home on movies sets. The actress has three films set to be released before the end of the year, and her much-anticipated "Suicide Squad" hits theatres in August 2016.
"I have regained respect for myself, in a weird way, and on a movie set is where I feel like I belong. If that makes any sense," she said.
Be sure to read the full interview with Delevingne in The Times.
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