Cara Delevingne never made a "conscious decision" to come out as pansexual.
Cara Delevingne covers British Vogue
The 29-year-old model-and-actress - who is attracted to all genders - was tired of being "ashamed" of who she loved so felt it was time to be honest about who she was dating without feeling she had to make an announcement about her sexuality.
Asked to share her coming out story, she said: "It’s hard to call it a coming out story, because I never really came out.
" It was more that I just decided to put my cards on the table and say look, I’m in love, I’m in love with who I’m in love with. It didn’t feel like I was making, you know, a conscious decision to be out. It just meant that I was done with being in the closet.
"I was done with being ashamed for who I loved and who I was. So for me it was more just being like, love is love, and we should be able to love who we want."
The 'Carnival Row' star wishes she could tell her younger self to "love" herself and be proud of who she is.
Speaking to Britain's Vogue magazine for their August issue, which celebrates 50 years of Pride in London, she said: "If I could give my younger self a message, it would be to love yourself. It sounds so cliché, but I would also say accept yourself, be yourself. No matter what that means, good or bad. Just to take yourself as you are.
"And to lift your head up high. That doesn’t mean to not speak up, not say the truth. But that means to be proud. Be proud of who you are, no matter what that means."
Cara - who is one of the magazine's 12 LGBTQ+ cover stars and features on one of three special digital covers - thinks the LGBTQ+ community is "more than family" to her.
She said: "The most joyful part about being part of the LGBTQ+ community is when you really understand and really become a part of that community, or the moments that you have and the connections you make. Being in that community is one of the most important, incredible things in the world.
"Family is important. But that community is more than family. You are so alike in so many different ways. No matter where you’re from, no matter who you are, no matter what age you are."
Read the full interview with Cara at https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/cara-delevingne-interview-pride.
The August issue of British Vogue is on sale from Tuesday 19 July.
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