In honour of Pride Month [1], Cara Delevingne is opening up about her sexuality and what pride means to her. In a recent interview with Variety, Cara came out as pansexual and discussed her sexuality, gender fluidity [2], and the struggles she faced growing up as she came to terms with her identity. "I grew up in an old-fashioned, repressed English family," Cara said. "And I used the word 'gay' to describe things which were sh*t all the time . . . 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. When you don't accept a part of yourself or love yourself, it's like you're not there, almost."

Cara then went on to talk about a crush she had on one of her female friends as a child and how keeping her own sexual identity to herself contributed to a mental breakdown when she was 15. "Some days, I feel more womanly. Some days, I feel more like a man," she said. "I guess I never felt like I belonged anywhere as a kid. Or I always felt like I didn't belong in my own body. I felt so lost . . . Once I could talk about my sexuality freely, I wasn't hiding anything anymore."

Cara's statement comes shortly after her breakup with Ashley Benson [3], who she dated for two years. In the past, Cara has shrugged off labels given to her based off of the people she's dated [4], pointing out that she's more attracted to people than gender. "I always will remain, I think, pansexual," she said. "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."

Recently, Cara has facilitated a $1 million partnership between Puma and The Trevor Project [5], a nonprofit organisation dedicated to suicide prevention for young people who are questioning or identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community [6]. On what pride means to her, Cara said, "Pride to me is a sense of something that I never really had as a kid. A sense of pride is like a sense of belonging, a family outside your family, a place where you don't have to apologise or feel ashamed."