Linda Evangelista pictured in 2008
(Picture: PA)Linda Evangelista has claimed she has been left “permanently deformed” following a fat reduction procedure.
The 56-year-old supermodel said on social media she has experienced a rare side effect of the treatment which she underwent five years ago.
She said the operation actually increased her fat cells when it was supposed to do the opposite.
The model said she has had “two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries” following the botched body contouring procedure.
“I have been left, as the media has described, ‘unrecognisable’,” she said.
“To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured by... [a procedure] which did the opposite of what it promised,” Evangelista explained.
She said the procedure “has not only destroyed my livelihood, it has sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness and the lowest depths of self-loathing. In the process I have become a recluse.”
“I’m so tired of living this way,” she continued. “I would like to walk out my door with my head held high, despite not looking like myself any longer.”
The non-surgical procedure uses cold temperatures to reduce fat deposits in certain areas of the body.
Describing the “very rare but serious side effect,” Evangelista said it “means the fat cells in the treatment site grow larger rather than smaller. It’s not fully understood why this occurs.”
Evangelista was one of the most popular models of the 1990s along with Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington.
Gwyneth Paltrow, stylist Karla Welch and designers Jeremy Scott and Brandon Maxwell voiced their support under her post.
Vogue Editor Edward Enninful wrote: “We love you, Linda. Always brave and inspiring. You will always be an icon.”
