Cara Delevingne has said the six weeks she spent playing a cancer patient forced her to think about death “every second of every day” and could have sucked her into depression.
The model-turned actress has just finished filming Life In A Year opposite Jaden Smith and said the role led her to staying sober for the duration of the shoot.
She told The Daily Telegraph: “It was so important to be as focused as possible because it was the most intense and difficult role I have ever played and it was very important to spend most of my time trying to learn about what it would be like to have cancer and putting myself in those situations.
“It was a very dark six weeks because I was thinking about death every second of every day. So if I wasn’t completely clear headed it could have got very dangerous and I could have gotten sucked into massive depression.”
She is no stranger to mental illness, after becoming depressed at the age of 15 when she discovered her mother’s heroin addiction and she said: “It shapes the childhood of every kid whose parent has an addiction. you grow up too quickly because you’re parenting your parents.”
The part in her new film also required her to shave her head, which she said was a “liberating” experience.
She said: “I’m in the short hair club. I like it because the maintenance is a lot less which is nice.
“I feel a lot more open and a little more vulnerable than when I had long hair, which is actually kind of liberating.”
