Linda Evangelista stunned fans with her shocking transformation from an iconic 90s supermodel to a recluse after a fat-freezing operation went horribly wrong.
The Canadian model, 56, was a regular on the catwalk in the 1990s, alongside Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Claudia Schiffer, and was a muse of many fashion designers, including the late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Linda was one of the most instantly recognisable faces in fashion, and retired in 1998, but made a comeback three years later.
She also dated actor Kyle McLachlan from 1992 to 1998, and was also in a relationship with French footballer and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez until 2002.
Linda was thrust into the spotlight in 2011, when it emerged she was taking billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault to court over child support payments, claiming he was the father of her son Augustin James, who she welcomed in 2006.
She took part in a select number of campaigns and photoshoots since semi-retiring in 1998, but withdrew completely from public life after a botched cosmetic procedure.
Linda underwent a fat-freezing operation in 2015, which left her with protruding bulges all over her body.
She first had the CoolSculpting treatment, which is a non-invasive alternative to liposuction, and underwent seven sessions over the next seven months, with her last treatment taking place in February 2016.
But she was left “permanently deformed” and “brutally disfigured”, and in September last year, she filed a $50 million lawsuit against CoolSculpting’s parent company Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc.
Linda claims she had been unable to work since having the treatment, and her body confidence is at an all-time low after she suffered serious side-effects following the procedure.
Three months after the model had her CoolSculpting sessions, she began developing hard bulges on her chin, thighs and back.
“I tried to fix it myself, thinking I was doing something wrong. I got to where I wasn't eating at all. I thought I was losing my mind,” she told People, adding that she was eating less and exercising more.
She was diagnosed with Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) in 2016 after seeing her doctor, and underwent liposuction in 2017 to try and get rid of the bulges, which were now numb and had hardened.
“If I walk without a girdle in a dress, I will have chafing to the point of almost bleeding. Because it's not like soft fat rubbing, it's like hard fat rubbing,” she explained.
Linda said she can’t put her arms flat by her side because of the bugle near her bra on her back, and sadly stated: “I don't think designers are going to want to dress me with that.”
The model said she now “dreads running into someone I know”, and chose to speak out about her experience because she “can’t live like this anymore, in hiding and shame”.
Linda, who was once voted the greatest supermodel of all time, said she can’t look in the mirror anymore.
But she’s bravely vowed to continue her fight against CoolSculpting, and went public with her journey in the hope she can “shed myself of some of the shame”.
