Cara Delevingne has said that her girlfriend Ashley Benson helped her overcome her deep-rooted trust issues.

The 27-year-old model turned Hollywood star has been dating US actress Ashley Benson, 29, for more than a year after they met on the set of 2018 movie Her Smell.

Delevingne said the Pretty Little Liars star had taught her to value herself after a series of bad relationships with men.

2011 MTV Movie Awards – California
Ashley Benson in 2011 (PA)

She told Net-A-Porter’s digital magazine PorterEdit: “I’d never truly let anyone in before, for fear of them leaving. I never really trusted people, or felt worthy of it, and I always pushed them away.

“She’s the first person that has said: ‘You can’t push me away. I’m going to be nice to you, I love you.

“I’m just like, wait, so all I have to do is just let you be nice to me? Why have I never done that before?”

The pair have so far remained private about their romance, although they hit the headlines in July when they were photographed carrying a leather “sex bench” into their home.

Delevingne told the magazine she had been hurt by men “over and over” as a young woman but denied this was what had caused her to become gay.

“I loved men from when I was very young,” she said.

“I fell in love with my sports teacher at five. He married my other sports teacher, and I cried for weeks.

“I had a boyfriend for four years and then he left, and I got with his best friend. But continuously, over and over again, I was hurt by men. Not that that’s why I became gay.”

Carnival Row Premiere – London
Cara Delevingne stars alongside Orlando Bloom in Amazon Prime Video’s Carnival Row (Ian West/PA)

Delevingne, who identifies as genderfluid, also addressed her sexuality, telling the magazine that it changes daily.

She said: “I f***ing hate it. The labels for everything bum me out. I hate to label myself.

“I’ve been to so many dinners where people are like: ‘So, what are you? L, G, B, T, Q?’

“I’m like: ‘Guys, really? This is what we’re talking about?’ I change every day.”

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Premiere – London
Harvey Weinstein (Ian West/PA)

The Suicide Squad and Carnival Row star also revealed that disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein told her she would never find success in Hollywoood as a gay woman.

She said: “One of the first things Harvey Weinstein ever said to me was, ‘You will never make it in this industry as a gay woman – get a beard.

“When I’d just started to audition for films, he was naming people (women) that I’m friends with – famous people – and asking, ‘Have you slept with this person?’ I just thought, ‘This is insane.”

Read the full interview online.