Cara Delevingne Speaks Publicly About Being Pansexual For First Time

Actress and model Cara Delevingne has spoken about what it means to be pansexual in a new interview with Variety.

The British 27-year-old has never shied away from talking about her relationships and sexuality. She previously identified as bisexual and confirmed in 2015 she was in a relationship with American musician and songwriter St Vincent (real name Annie Clark).

Cara recently split with actress and model Ashley Benson after nearly two years of dating.

In the interview, she explains that pansexuality means she doesn't fall in love with people - whether men, women or non-binary - because of how they identify, but because of who they are as a person.

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She told Variety: "I always will remain, I think, pansexual. However one defines themselves, whether it's 'they' or 'he' or 'she,' I fall in love with the person - and that's that. I'm attracted to the person."

She explains that acceptance hasn't always been easy, and recalls an encounter in the early days of her career with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is now serving a 23-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault after being found guilty back in March.

She said: "Harvey was one of the people that told me I couldn't be with a woman and also be an actress. I had to have a beard.

"To me, the idea of having a beard was - I'd heard it happen before - I just felt so disheartened by it. Do you have a conversation with a dude, and they're like, 'I'm going to pretend to be with you but not really love you?'

"I kind of think when I was pushed more that way, I realised how much more I needed to go the other way."

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She also explained how difficult it was to reconcile her sexuality with growing up in an upper-class, family in London.

She said: "I grew up in an old-fashioned, repressed English family. And I used the word 'gay' to describe things which were s*** all the time: 'That's so f***ing gay of you, man.'

"I think that came from the fact that I just didn't want to admit who I was. I didn't want to upset my family. I was deeply unhappy and depressed."

Thankfully, she was able to overcome those obstacles and embrace her true self.

Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, LGBT

Mischa Pearlman

Mischa is a freelance journalist usually based in either New York or London. He has written for Kerrang!, Record Collector, NME, the New York Observer and FLOOD magazine, among others. Contact him at [email protected]