Linda Evangelista is still suffering from the psychological effects of her cosmetic treatment, which left her “disfigured,” over a decade later.
In a Harper’s Bazaar cover story released on Thursday, April 24, the supermodel, 59, discussed her many health issues over the last decade, including procedures such as a double mastectomy, the excision of a mass from her breast, keloids, and her cosmetic CoolSculpting surgery.
“My double mastectomy, I’m fine with it,” she told the magazine. “I did insert extremely few implants. I replaced the implants that were removed. I’ve had multiple lung surgeries, along with keloids, chest-tube scars, and a C-section scar.
“There were many surgeries,” Evangelista added. “I am awesome. I am alright with those. I won. I’m here. I won.”
The singer also spoke out about the cosmetic surgery that resulted in a lawsuit, which she and CoolSculpting resolved in 2022.
“I need to go to therapy to enjoy what I see in the mirror, yet I still don’t look in it.” I would rather not see myself because I didn’t love or like myself,” she admitted. “I’m doing the work, and I’m trying to get to the place where I like myself—flaws and all— and trying to love myself.”
Evangelista initially posted her experience with CoolSculpting, a popular, FDA-cleared “fat-freezing” technique marketed as a noninvasive alternative to liposuction, on Instagram in 2021. She said in a long statement that it left her “permanently deformed” and “brutally disfigured.”
She subsequently spoke with PEOPLE in 2022 about the mental and physical suffering she had after many rounds of CoolSculpting from 2015 to 2016. According to the model, her skin began to bulge and harden in the regions where she received the therapy. She claimed $50 million in damages, claiming she was unable to work.
At that time, she revealed to PEOPLE that she began to diet and increase her exercise routine. “I eventually stopped eating altogether. I believed I was losing my mind.
By June 2016, her doctor had diagnosed her with Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH), “a very rare but serious side effect” in which the targeted fat cells in the treatment site grow larger rather than shrink. According to Healthline, men are more likely to experience this.
“I said, ‘What the hell is that?'” He informed me that no amount of dieting or exercise would ever heal it,” she told PEOPLE.
In her complaint against CoolSculpting’s parent company, Zeltiq Aesthetics, she claimed that the operation “increased, not decreased,” her fat cells, leaving her “permanently deformed even after two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries.”
When she first filed the complaint in 2021, Evangelista stated on Instagram that she planned to “[move] forward to rid myself of my shame and go public with my story. “I’m so weary of living this way. I want to walk out of my door with my head held high, despite the fact that I no longer look like myself.”
Evangelista also told Harper’s Bazaar that, despite her fears about surgery and cosmetic procedures, she enjoys aging.
“I don’t mind how I age.” I just want to age,” she admitted. “It doesn’t need to be elegant. I truly, really do not want to die. I still have so much to accomplish. I’m now feeling comfortable with myself and everything, and I want to enjoy it.”
“I am alive. I am alive. I am alive, and I will do what is necessary.” I’m going to fight because I don’t want it any other way,” Evangelista said. “I’m not done.”