Childhood suicidal ideation
Cara experienced suicidal thoughts as a child, recalling swimming into the sea intending to keep going until she drowned.
Snapshot · The Louis Theroux Podcast
S8 EP4: Cara Delevingne discusses getting sober, engagement rumours, and being Karl Lagerfeld's muse
Explore episode
Jun 29, 2026
Where this was said
Ketamine and the Art of Disappearing
At 25:28 · chapter starts 23:20
Louis admits he's never taken ketamine — with mild embarrassment — and Cara is gently disabused of the idea it's just a horse tranquiliser. She explains the clinical reality (it's a hospital anaesthetic) before describing her own use: she wasn't taking small recreational doses, she was doing long lines explicitly to knock herself out. The phrase she uses is telling — she wanted 'to disappear'. The tolerance she built was staggering: she gives away what she considers a small amount to a six-foot-five man at a party, tells him it will floor him, and is proved right every time. At the time she wore it as a badge of hardcore bravado; she acknowledges now it was probably frightening for people around her. [1] — Cara Delevingne "Cara didn't take ketamine recreationally — she used it to disappear. She describes doing enormous lines not for a buzz but to fully tranqui…" 23:18
Ketamine tolerance dwarfed large men
Cara's ketamine tolerance was so extreme that a dose she considered small would floor a 6-foot-5 man, which she initially wore as a badge of pride.
Similar snapshots
500 self-help techniques → 12 levers
Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson analyzed almost 500 self-improvement techniques and found they all reduce to just 12 underlying psychological drivers.
Cold exposure: weak long-term evidence
Cold exposure has good short-term alertness benefits but the evidence base for long-term health benefits is much weaker than popularly believed.
20 habit techniques tested; almost none worked
In a randomized study of 20 habit-formation techniques run on hundreds of people, almost none of the techniques produced statistically meaningful results.
Tiny habit users stick to the FULL habit more
People given a tiny-habit fallback option (e.g. 10 squats instead of gym) were actually MORE successful at completing the full habit, not less.
Habit reflection = standout technique
The most effective habit-formation technique was 'habit reflection' — recalling a past successful habit, writing down what helped, then applying those lessons to a new habit.
Behavioral activation rivals CBT for depression
A study found that simply scheduling enjoyable activities was as effective as standard cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, leading to its own therapy called behavioral activation.
Worry time: batch all worries to 5 PM
The 'worry time' technique — deferring all worries to a designated time of day — helps people realize they have more control over worry than they thought and reveals it is less useful than it feels.
Sleeping faster by trying to stay awake
A study found that participants told to try to stay awake while in bed fell asleep faster than participants told to try to sleep — illustrating the paradox of direct effort.
Social anxiety eliminated in ~6 months
Spencer Greenberg reduced his severe social anxiety dramatically in roughly 6 months through a structured exposure therapy hierarchy, culminating in asking strangers for hugs.
