Linda Evangelista talks about injury from cosmetic procedure gone allegedly wrong

February 17, 2022

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Fragrance Foundation

(NEW YORK) — Linda Evangelista is sharing photos of herself several months after suffering from a cosmetic procedure that she alleges left her “brutally disfigured.”

The legendary supermodel, 56, discussed with People what life has looked like for her after revealing last September that a cosmetic CoolSculpting procedure had allegedly gone wrong for her.

“Linda began speaking about herself in the third person, and she really feels that person that we all saw on the covers of magazines and in music videos is actually gone,” said People’s deputy west coast editor, Jason Sheeler. “She doesn’t even like to look in the mirrors,” he said.

For the publications’ upcoming cover story, Evangelista also made comments about her son asking her if she remembers when she used to be fun and laugh all the time. “So I hate what this has done to my relationship with him,” she told the magazine.

CoolSculpting is an FDA-cleared cosmetic procedure that’s been performed more than 8 million times, according to the company’s website. It’s marketed as a non-surgical way to target fat cells — freezing them so that they eventually break down.

“It’s probably the number one non-surgical fat reduction technology in the world,” Dr. Jonathan Zelken, CEO of Zelken Institute for Aesthetic Medicine, previously told Good Morning America.

After initially sharing her claims about the procedure on Instagram, Evangelista also filed a $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq Aesthetics, the maker of CoolSculpting, alleging the procedure caused her to suffer disfigurement, pain, severe emotional distress and economic losses that have rendered her unemployable.

She also claimed the procedure caused her to develop paradoxical adipose hyperplasia which is “a rare adverse effect in which patients develop painless, firm and well-demarcated tissue masses in the treatment areas approximately 3-6 months following cryolipolysis,” according to the NCBI.

“The bulges are protrusions,” she told People. “And they’re hard. 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 said.

In a statement, Allergan, the company that owns CoolSculpting, said, “Allergan Aesthetics does not comment on ongoing litigation … CoolSculpting has been well studied with more than 100 scientific publications and more than 11 million treatments performed worldwide.”

After living in seclusion for almost five years, Evangelista said in the interview, “I’m not going to hide anymore,” and that she’s been focused on regaining her confidence.

“I hope I can shed myself of some of the shame and help other people who are in the same situation as me,” said Evangelista. “That’s my goal.”