Linda Evangelista recently opened up on how her body was disfigured by a cosmetic procedure.
In the interview with People, the Linda Evangelista talked about the physical and emotional pain that has plagued her for more than five years, following a fat-freezing procedure.
The procedure is called CoolScupting. The procedure aims to get rid of part in areas of your body by freezing the fats in those areas or subjecting them to a process similar to frostbite. Cryolipolysis is another name for this.
Linda Evangelista said the procedure left her permanently deformed and damaged. It was after a series of dieting, exercise, and a doctor’s visit that she found out the cause of her problems.
In 2016, the model was diagnosed with Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, a rare side effect that affects 1% CoolSculpting patients.
For Linda Evangelista and other PAH patients, the freezing process causes the affected fatty tissues to thicken and expand.
“I loved being up on the catwalk. Now I dread running into someone I know,” she tells PEOPLE through tears in this week’s cover story. “I can’t live like this anymore, in hiding and shame. I just couldn’t live in this pain any longer. I’m willing to finally speak.”
People reported that “Evangelista filed a lawsuit in September suing CoolSculpting’s parent company, Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., for $50 million in damages, alleging that she’s been unable to work since undergoing seven sessions of CoolSculpting in a dermatologist’s office from August 2015 to February 2016.”
“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 says she avoids meeting people who used to know her, and even avoids looking at herself in the mirror, as she doesn’t recognize her body.
