Cara Delevingne has said “sometimes you need a reality check”, while reflecting on her recent decision to go sober.

The 30-year-old English model and actress found fame as the face of luxury fashion house Burberry in 2011.

Speaking to Vogue, she acknowledged a series of images that were taken of her at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles last year and spoke about how they encouraged her to consider sobriety.

“It’s heart-breaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, OK, I don’t look well.

“You know, sometimes you need a reality check, so in a way those pictures were something to be grateful for.”

After first finding fame as a model, Delevingne branched into acting with a minor role in Joe Wright’s 2012 adaptation of Anna Karenina.

She later went on to secure leading roles in Paper Towns and Suicide Squad.

Looking back on her career, she said: “If you have problems going into this industry, they will only get magnified and exacerbated. There is nothing about it that makes it better.”

She also spoke candidly about her mother’s struggle with addiction and how she previously dealt with it.

She said: “For a long time, I didn’t really put myself in her shoes. I just needed someone to be angry at and I was angry at her, but it wasn’t her fault.

“The way that addiction took my mother from me was brutal, and it was brutal for her too.”

Reflecting on her childhood, Delevingne added: “I was happy as a kid, for sure, but I think when I grew up I looked back and realised, that’s not normal.

“And then as a teenager, it just all came plummeting down. That’s also when I started drinking and partying.”

The full interview is available in British Vogue.