Cara Delevingne says sobriety has 'been worth every second'

Model and actress Cara Delevingne is opening up on maintaining her sobriety, saying quitting drinking has made her "stable" and "calmer."

It has been "worth every second," Delevingne expressed in a new interview with Elle UK, admitting her nine months of sobriety haven't been easy.

"It hasn't, but there have never been moments when I'm like, 'This isn't worth it,'" she said.

The 30-year-old checked into rehab after paparazzi photos of herself at the Burning Man festival back in September surfaced. The coverage around the photos called out her appearance and led to tabloid speculation on her health.

Delevingne previously told Vogue that the release of those photos was a "reality check." In her recently released interview with Elle UK, she said that they that led her to choose sobriety after she was able -- through rehab -- "to disappear and come back for air."

"For a long time, I felt like I was hiding a lot from people who looked up to me," the model divulged. "I finally feel as though I can be free and myself, fully," which included going public about her struggles with substances and with her own mental health — struggles shared by her mother, Pandora.

Despite her successes in modeling, acting and social media, Delevingne said she didn't feel "worthy" of her successes.

"It didn't feel real," she said. "I didn't feel like I deserved it. ... I was still stuck in this mindset of not being good enough."

She added, "I was doing the best I could. ... Inside, I felt very different to how I looked."

The help of Alcoholics Anonymous, a sober sponsor and "instrumental" friends who "have been down this path before" -- as well as her relationship with her girlfriend, musician Leah Mason -- "have made me so happy and comfortable with who I am," Delevingne now says.