There’s been a huge focus in recent years on improving mental health stigma which is so great to see, but the way we treat celebrities who are going through it needs a major fucking overhaul. There are multiple of examples of this including Kanye West and Britney Spears and just recently a concerning video of Cara Delevingne has started doing the rounds.
After footage of Cara acting, as the media put it, “erratic” at LA airport went public recently, there’s been scores of articles discussing the model’s current state.
One publication flat-out published a headline echoing fans’ assumptions that she’s “on drugs”, while others reached out to sources who claimed her family is planning on holding an intervention for the “struggling model.”
There have even been articles that charted her troubled history, discussing how she went from a coveted model and actress to a “drug abuser” as if it were a style evolution gallery for a glossy magazine.
And the latest story is the absolute kicker: paparazzi camped outside her house and photographed her friend Margot Robbie who looked upset after visiting her.
You’ll notice that we haven’t linked out to any of these stories because we refuse to circulate images of a person who is clearly going through something and needs our privacy and respect.
I know writing this piece brings more attention to what’s happening but it’s the broader issue that we need to discuss in order to protect celebrities. After all, they are people too.
At the moment we treat them like fictional movie characters and eat popcorn as we watch them spiral, without realising there’s a real person behind the “viral footage” who’s clearly going through something.
Famous people aren’t immune to mental health or addiction issues and they deserve the same care, concern and most of all privacy as the rest of us as they go through whatever it is they’re going through.
Stalking Cara during a troubled moment and snapping pics when she’s at her most vulnerable is gross predatory behaviour.
Cara Delevingne deserves compassion and empathy, not a photographer camped outside her door with reporters ready to write stories of her downfall. No one deserves that.
