I went crazy after I made my first £1m at 25 – I pray Cara Delevingne can get back on track, says Caprice

MODEL Cara Delevingne has been worrying fans with her recent odd behaviour.

As family fear they may need to intervene urgently to help the 30-year-old beauty, her sister and fellow model Poppy rushed to her side at the weekend.

Images of the Brit emerged last week showing her wearing no shoes, and with bedraggled hair and bruises on her arms, after she was reportedly thrown off US rapper Jay-Z’s private jet at Los Angeles airport.

But Cara’s story is one that US supermodel turned businesswoman Caprice Bourret is familiar with.

Caprice, 50, whose own past demons saw her held for drink-driving 16 years ago, banned from the road for a year and fined £1,000, says the “opulence” young models inhabit can take a toll.

In an exclusive interview, she says: “At such a young age, you make so much money and sometimes it just gets out of hand.”

Caprice is now worth an estimated £34million — as the cover girl and ad campaign star has later struck gold with lingerie, nightwear and bedding ranges — and she has been wed since 2019 to banker Ty Comfort.

But she says: “I’m from a very humble background. I made my first million at 25 and I went crazy.

“I’d never known this kind of life — and it was my own money.

“It wasn’t like I was a gold-digger, going out with somebody who was paying for my lifestyle.

“I made my own money and was in full control of my entire lifestyle.

“You go nuts in your twenties because you’re not mature enough — and to be good-looking and famous is a formula for disaster.
World’s sexiest

“Cara is only human and I pray she gets back on track again. She will. She’s got a great family who will come to her rescue and help her out.”

Caprice has also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, Celebrity Come Dine With Me in 2008, winter sports challenge The Jump in 2017 and Dancing On Ice in 2020 — quitting the latter after a row with pro partner Hamish Gaman.

'I freaking love food'

There have been roles in musicals too — rock-fest Rent, and cheerleader romp Debbie Does Dallas.

But despite having been blessed with age-defying good looks, Caprice makes no secret that she worked hard during her modelling years to maintain that fabulous figure.

She pours scorn on models who claim their own figures are down to genetics rather than diet and exercise.

Caprice — who has featured on the covers of magazines including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, GQ, Esquire, Maxim, FHM and Sports Illustrated, and featured in polls of the world’s sexiest women — says: “When I was in my prime, there was a lot of pressure to look a certain way.

“It makes me laugh how you get interviews from models saying, ‘You know, this is just natural, I eat McDonald’s, whatever I want, I was just born like this.

“I just think, ‘You’re totally full of s***’, because what I’ve seen in the industry, most of the time it’s apples, cigarettes and coffee — that’s the diet.”

Due to her love of food, Caprice would exercise for up to two hours a day when modelling — a regime she now labels “insane”.

She says: “I didn’t make money being voluptuous — I was skinny, but really had to work at it because, sadly, I freaking love food.

“I’ve spent my life dieting and I’ve been candid about it. I’m so grateful for the opportunities the industry has given me but I also think, ‘Girls, let’s just keep it real’.”

Caprice was 42 when, in 2013 — two years after first hooking up with her now husband Ty — she became a mum to sons Jett and Jax.

The couple had struggled for years to conceive, and the boys, now aged eight, were born three weeks apart — one from a surrogate mother, the other naturally.

Caprice admits it was a “game-changer”, both physically and mentally.

She says: “I just don’t have the time I used to have to work on myself because it’s not about me any more. It’s about my family.

“My body changed — I put on over a stone and I just can’t lose it.

“I’m not working hard enough to see the results I saw in my twenties. When you get older, as well, it becomes harder to lose — and to be honest, I don’t have that kind of time.”

It was not until after she had children that Caprice turned to Botox.

She says: “After you have kids, they just suck the life out of you.

“Everything changes. So I jumped on board and, gosh, I’ll never forget the first time I had it — I thought it was the greatest thing.

“Nothing moved and I just went to town. I put poison in my whole face — but it goes away, thank goodness, as I hated it.

“I have wrinkles now, even with a bit of Botox. There’s only so much the Botox can do. But I’ve earned those wrinkles.”

Ukraine solidarity

While she dreaded getting older when in her thirties, Caprice is now embracing it — even if it means cellulite which she “never had before”.

Like model and presenter Melinda Messenger, 51 — who recently unveiled naturally greying hair after ditching her signature blonde look — Caprice stopped dyeing five years ago, letting her locks go “grey and dirty blonde”.

She says: “I freaking love it. When I wear my hair in a ponytail, you see it better.

“Melinda looks beautiful — she’s celebrating it, she’s not hiding it — and she looks amazing. I love her for that.

“Getting older is amazing. It’s empowering. Yes, you have to work harder at things. But just accept it, move on.

“I’m celebrating it because I still feel good, regardless of what anyone thinks.

“I’m in a much better state mentally. I’m more ambitious, much smarter, more patient and, I think, a better person.

“When I was younger, I was out on the town, I was pulling, I was doing my modelling and that was the real inspiration I needed to make me look and feel my best.

"It was very superficial — and at that moment in time, I was superficial.

“Now I’m focusing more on my business — a homeware range. That’s what makes me the real money.

“I’m looking forward to the next 40 years because it’s only getting better.”

She was criticised in March for posing naked with the words ‘F U War’ written on her back, in solidarity with Ukraine over Russia’s invasion.

Instagram even took down her post, claiming the pictures were too provocative. But she stands by it — and whatever she chooses to wear, generally.

She says: “It’s no one’s damn business what I do. If it makes me feel good, I’m going to do it.

"Every man and woman should do what makes them feel good and not be dictated by judgmental people.

“We have problems in this world, with the economy, inflation, war, mental health.

“If you want to get your goddang baps out, get your baps out. If you’re 50 and want to get your legs out, good on you. Do what empowers you.”

Last year Caprice told women to have regular “five-minute” sex with their husbands, and that romps with Ty during lockdown were “the best stress reliever”.

Lots of sex is also her hot tip for feeling youthful — and she reckons it is what the doctor orders.

She says: “My gynaecologist says it keeps you young, and don’t stop.

"My mum went to the gynaecologist and he said, ‘Go get yourself a toyboy’. It’s healthy and fun. Sex is never gonna go away.”

• Caprice’s new homewear range, Hollywood By Caprice, launches at Home Bargains in mid-November.