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Linda Evangelista has landed another modeling gig after she was left “brutally disfigured” by a CoolSculpting procedure.
Evangelista, 57, appeared on the cover of British Vogue for the September issue. She also shared with the magazine her experience with CoolSculpting.
“I couldn’t live in that pain any longer,” Evangelista told Vogue about coming out of her hiding after five years. “I knew I had to make a change, and the only change was to tell my truth.”
Evangelista admitted if she knew what she knows now about the “risk” of the CoolSculpting treatment, she would not have done it.
Model Linda Evangelista, pictured here in June 2015, said she began the “fat freezing” treatments August 2015 through February 2016, and was left unable to work following the noninvasive procedures.
(Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)
“If I had known side effects may include losing your livelihood and you’ll end up so depressed that you hate yourself…” Evangelista said. “I wouldn’t have taken that risk.”
In September, Evangelista filed a lawsuit and sued CoolSculpting’s parent company, Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., for $50 million in damages. CoolSculpting, an FDA-cleared “fat freezing” procedure, has become popular for being a noninvasive alternative to liposuction. However, Evangelista alleged that she has been unable to work since undergoing seven sessions in a dermatologist’s office from August 2015 to February 2016.
Earlier this year, Evangelista revealed that she was diagnosed with Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a rare side effect that affects less than 1% of CoolSculpting patients, in which the freezing process causes the affected fatty tissue to thicken and expand. Evangelista told People magazine that within three months of treatment, she noticed bulges on her chin, thighs and bra area that grew and hardened.
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Linda Evangelista walks the runway during the Thierry Mugler Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 1995-1996 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on March 6, 1995 in Paris.
(Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
She has since settled the lawsuit.
The Canadian model, who was one of the most photographed models in the ’90s, said she was drawn into CoolSculpting by the company’s commercials.
“Those CoolSculpting commercials were on all the time, on CNN, on MSNBC, over and over, and they would ask, ‘Do you like what you see in the mirror?’ They were speaking to me. It was about stubborn fat in areas that wouldn’t budge. It said no downtime, no surgery and… I drank the magic potion, and I would because I’m a little vain,” she admits. “So I went for it – and it backfired.”
Evangelista revealed she has tried a lot of things to get her body back to the way it was before.
“I have incisions all over my body,” she explained. “I have had stitches, I have worn compression garments under my chin, I’ve had my entire body tightly girdled for eight weeks – nothing helped.”
The whole experience affected her mentally as well as physically. The model revealed that her 15-year-old son, Augustin James Evangelista, took notice.
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Linda Evangelista walks the runway for a Vivienne Westwood show during Paris Fashion Week in the 1990s in Paris.
(Photo by Foc Kan/WireImage)
“What really stabbed me in the heart was when he said to me, ‘Remember when you used to be so much fun? Remember when you used to laugh all the time?’ It was such an innocent comment,” she said of her son. “That was a lot to handle.”
These days, Evangelista said she is now hoping to reclaim her life.
“I hope I can shed myself of some of the shame and help other people who are in the same situation as me,” she previously said. “That’s my goal.”
Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
