Cara Delevingne’s burned down LA mansion is the latest blow to the troubled model, who currently has a restraining order against a stalker who previously tried to break into the $7 million property.
Delevingne, who is currently in the UK playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret on London’s West End, was left heartbroken after flames engulfed her sprawling estate in the early hours of Friday morning, leaving one person injured.
The dramatic blaze, which is being investigated for possible arson, comes two years after a man who had been stalking the model, 31, across continents was arrested for trying to break into the Studio City home in 2022. He was apprehended by the police after Delevingne’s security personnel contacted LAPD.
Attorney’s for Delevingne filed a 34-page Request for Civil Harassment Restraining Order against Floris Van Merkesteyn in January 2022 after she claimed he had been harassing her and her sister Poppy Delevingne since 2021.
Cara Delevingne’s house burned down two years after a man who was stalking her tried to break in
On February 7, 2022, Delevingne was granted a five-year restraining order against Floris Van Merkesteyn, who cannot come within 100 yards of her
Delevingne escaped a potentially deadly fire at her $7million Los Angeles home in the early hours of Friday morning (the aftermath pictured above today)
In the document, her attorney Evann Speigel stated: ‘Van Merkesteyn is a mentally unstable celebrity stalker with a fixation on and obsession with Petitioner who delusional believes he personally knows her.
‘Van Merkesteyn has engaged in compulsive stalking of Petitioner and unwanted and unsolicited attempted personal contact.’
The harassment started in September 2021 when Delevingne received a 12-page ‘long rambling, semi-incoherent and disturbing hand-written letter’ from Van Merkesteyn in the mailbox at her London home.
‘The items did not have postage meaning they were not mailed, but hand-delivered to Petitioner’s London house and placed in the mailbox by Van Merkesteyn,’ the documents read.
‘The letter included a number of references which are extremely frightening, scary and distressing to Petitioner, some of which Petitioner understood as possible threats of violence — of possible murder-suicide references.
‘On October 4, 2021, Van Merkesteyn, traveled to and showed-up uninvited to Petitioner’s house in London. At the time Petitioner was not in London.
‘Van Merkesteyn rung the door bells of both Petitioner’s house and the neighbor’s house; and the neighbor answered and spoke with the man.’
According to the neighbor he had ‘scars on his wrists, seemed distressed, and was trying to speak to Petitioner.’
Van Merkesteyn detailed his obsession with the model in a handwritten letter
On October 29, 2021, Delevingne was informed, by a message from the police, that Van Merkesteyn had been admitted into a mental health hospital in East London, and that, at the time, he was not deemed physiologically fit to be interviewed by the police.
In the December he was told by police to stay away from the British star, but on January 16, 2022, he showed up at her Los Angeles home looking for her and sought entry into her house.
Delevingne’s security, Mr. Krashinsky recognized and identified Van Merkesteyn and called the LAPD to report the stalking. When the police arrived, they detained Van Merkesteyn and placed him under arrest.
On February 7, 2022, Delevingne was granted a five-year restraining order against Van Merkesteyn, who cannot come within 100 yards of her, or make any contact with her or anyone associated with her for five years.
Van Merkesteyn was not arrested and is currently not in police custody.
In response to the ruling, he wrote a creepy letter in which he detailed having interactions with Delevingne since she was 10 years old.
Delevingne’s house was completely gutted on Friday with firefighters rushing to the scene after a 911 call was made around 3:57am PST, per TMZ.
A total of 94 firefighters showed up to fight the blaze arriving in 13 different engines.
A total of 94 firefighters showed up to fight the blaze arriving in 13 different engines.
It is believed that the blaze started in a backroom of the property, but it is currently unknown how the fire started.
Images obtained by DailyMail.com reveal that entire parts of the roof have now collapsed due to the fire.
DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for the model.
It is said to have taken firefighters almost two hours to get the fire fully contained with at least one person injured, though it is not yet clear who.
TMZ claims that one firefighter fell from a ladder while trying to put out the blaze and was injured.
One person who was staying at Cara’s home was also said to have been treated for smoke inhalation.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Cara bought her her 8,000-square-foot mansion for $7 million in 2019.
Once the fire had been controlled a clearer view of the aftermath of the fire was seen
The 35-year-old British supermodel was pictured out partying in London on Thursday night before the blaze took place
The model was in for a rude awakening on Friday following the news of her house almost completely burning down
The model had initially believed that her two cats perished in the fire but later revealed they had been saved
Cara gave a tour of her beloved home to Architectural Digest magazine in 2021
The model can be seen inside the luxury home before it was ravaged by the fire
The quirky interiors had clearly been a labor of love for the supermodel
Cara previously owned a Hollywood home with her sister Poppy Delevingne that they bought from actor Jared Leto – and then sold to singer Usher for $3.4million in September 2022.
In March last year, Cara revealed she checked herself into rehab after ‘heartbreaking’ images published by DailyMail.com that had given her a wakeup call.
The model said she reflected on her mental health struggles and addiction battle after sparking concern with a series of troubled public appearances.
Speaking to Vogue magazine, she confessed that she hadn’t been ‘ready’ to tackle her demons until she fell into a ‘bad place’.
She explained: ‘I’ve had interventions of a sort, but I wasn’t ready. That’s the problem.
‘I hadn’t seen a therapist in three years. I just kind of pushed everyone away, which made me realize how much I was in a bad place.’
Cara’s home in Studio City, California is said to have been engulfed by flames that had spread to the attic, with part of the roof collapsing as a result
It is believed that the blaze started in a backroom of the property, but there is currently unknown how the fire started.
It took firefighters almost two hours to get the fire fully contained and some were said to be injured
The report claims that one firefighter fell from a ladder while trying to put out the blaze and was injured
One person who was staying at Cara’s home was said to be treated for smoke inhalation.
The roof of the mansion looks as though it had collapsed due to the fire
Her wellbeing had been at the forefront of her friends and family’s concern last year after she was pictured behaving erratically on various occasions.
The model explained that she had been lying to herself about her health and it wasn’t until she saw herself in the airport photographs that she realized she needed help.
‘I hadn’t slept. I was not okay,’ she explained. ‘It’s heartbreaking because I thought I was having fun, but at some point it was like, “Okay, 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.’
The aftermath on Friday showed smoke still billowing from the mansion
It appeared that almost the entire roof of the mansion has been burned from the fire
Cara will have woken up to the news about her LA home while in London
An investigation will now be underway as to how the fire started
Almost half of Cara’s home can be seen torn apart by the blaze
She confessed that she had many ‘shallow’ relationships because she would hold back on her emotions so as not to ‘burden’ anyone and because of her fear of abandonment.
‘If you ask any of my friends, they would say they’d never seen me cry,’ she confessed.
‘From September, I just needed support. I needed to start reaching out. And my old friends I’ve known since I was 13, they all came over and we started crying. They looked at me and said, “You deserve a chance to have joy.”‘
Through her work in therapy, Cara realized that she needed to stop chasing the idea of a ‘quick fix’ to healing and has committed to following the 12-step program.
She explained: ‘Before I was always into the quick fix of healing, going to a weeklong retreat or to a course for trauma, say, and that helped for a minute, but it didn’t ever really get to the nitty-gritty, the deeper stuff.’
While Cara has made peace with the fact that her journey won’t be straightforward, she said she struggles with the fact that outsiders don’t understand.
She shared her frustrations at people simplifying her struggles, noting that her recovery won’t happen ‘overnight’ and she’s aware it will be a lifelong commitment.
She explained: ‘This process obviously has its ups and downs, but I’ve started realizing so much. People want my story to be this after-school special where I just say, “Oh look, I was an addict, and now I’m sober and that’s it.”
‘And it’s not as simple as that. It doesn’t happen overnight…. Of course I want things to be instant – I think this generation especially, we want things to happen quickly—but I’ve had to dig deeper.’
Cara previously owned a Hollywood home with her sister Poppy Delevingne that they bought from actor Jared Leto (pictured above)
Reflecting on how her mental health impacted her addiction issues she explained that she fell into a deep depression during lockdown.
She started her quarantine in Los Angeles with Ashley Benson, her then girlfriend of almost two years but when the couple split: ‘I was alone, really alone…it was a low point.’
‘I just had a complete existential crisis. All my sense of belonging, all my validation—my identity, everything—was so wrapped up in work. And when that was gone, I felt like I had no purpose. I just wasn’t worth anything without work, and that was scary.
‘I got very wrapped up in misery, wallowing, and partying. It was a really sad time.’