Once one of the most photographed people in the world, supermodel Linda Evangelista has been living in isolation for almost five years. Now she is finally ready to share her story.
Evangelista, 56, talks to People about the emotional and physical pain that has left its mark on her life in recent years after she decided to do CoolSculpting - an FDA-approved "fat freezing" procedure.
Promoted as a non-invasive alternative to liposuction, it left it "permanently deformed" and "disfigured". Evangelista filed a lawsuit in September against CoolSculpting's parent company, Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., for $ 50 million in damages, claiming it has been unable to operate since seven CoolSculpting sessions from August 2015 to February 2016.
"I liked climbing the catwalk. Now I'm afraid to face someone I know," she tells PEOPLE through tears. "I can no longer live like this, in hiding and shame. I just could not live in this pain anymore. I am ready to speak at last."
Within three months after the treatments, she began to notice swelling in the chin, thigh and chest area. The same areas she would like to shrink were suddenly growing. .
"I tried to fix it myself, thinking I was doing something wrong," says Evangelista, and she started dieting and exercising more. "I got to where I was not eating at all. I thought I was losing my mind."
In June 2016 she went to her doctor. "I was screaming and I said, 'I did not eat, I'm hungry. What am I doing wrong? When he diagnosed me with paradoxical fatty hyperplasia (PAH), I said, 'What the hell is this?' "And he told me I would not go on a diet and no amount of exercise would fix that."
PAH është një efekt anësor i rrallë që prek më pak se 1 për qind të pacientëve që i nështrohen CoolSculpting, ku procesi i ngrirjes bën që indi dhjamor i prekur të trashet dhe zgjerohet.
Në një deklaratë për PEOPLE, një përfaqësues për CoolSculpting thotë se procedura "është studiuar mirë me më shumë se 100 botime shkencore dhe më shumë se 11 milionë trajtime të kryera në mbarë botën" dhe shtoi se efektet anësore të rralla të njohura si PAH "vazhdojnë të jenë të mirëdokumentuara në informacionin CoolSculpting për pacientët dhe ofruesit e kujdesit shëndetësor."
Ky është një kontrast mes Linda Evangelista-n që bota e njohu për herë të parë 30 vjet më parë. Me fytyrën e saj si Sophia Loren dhe ndjenjë instiktive drejt fotografisë dhe stilit, ajo grumbulloi rreth 700 kopertina revistash gjatë karrierës së saj dhe shërbeu si muzë për ikonat e industrisë si stilisti i ndjerë i Chanel Karl Lagerfeld dhe fotografi i njohur Steven Meisel. "Asnjë modele nuk ishte më super se Linda," thotë kryeredaktorja e Vogue, Anna Wintour për PEOPLE. Wintour e vendosi Evangelista në kopertinën e revistës ikonike 11 herë.
Pjesa më e madhe e historisë së Evangelista tani ka të bëjë me rikuperimin e besimit dhe ndjenjës së saj për veten.
"Why do we feel the need to do these things to our bodies? I always knew I was going to grow old. And I know there are things a body goes through. But I just did not think I would look like that. I do not. I know myself physically, but I no longer know him as a person either. "
But she remains optimistic that sharing her trauma will give comfort to others suffering from similar situations.
She says this is one of the main reasons she broke her silence for the first time on Instagram last year.
And as the Evangelist struggles every day to regain what he has lost, one thing he says with certainty: "I will not hide anymore."
