Among the long-limbed glamazons who pitched ‘supermodel’ into the lexicon of fashion, she was the chameleon who faced the camera like she owned it.
Not forgetting that at the height of her powers she had an influence like few others. With a single snip of the scissors, Linda Evangelista spawned a stampede of women clamouring for gamine crops.
She changed hair colour 17 times in five years, ever confident that, in front of the camera, she was nothing less than captivating.
Her ‘confidence’, in fact, was legendary. She was the woman famously misquoted as saying she didn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 per day (the actual quote, to Vogue magazine, was, ‘we don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day’).
But it would seem the same cannot be said of Evangelista’s state of mind in more recent times.
Yesterday, the 56-year-old model, whom the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld once compared to a Stradivarius violin, revealed she had been suffering a ‘cycle of deep depression’ and ‘self-loathing’ so severe it had made her a recluse.
The cause of such despair? A rare reaction to a cosmetic procedure, a reaction so severe she endured two painful corrective procedures to undo the damage — both unsuccessful.
Linda Evangelista was the chameleon who faced the camera like she owned it. Her 'confidence', in fact, was legendary. She was the woman famously misquoted as saying she didn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 per day (pictured in 1994)
In a poignant post to her 900,000 followers on Instagram, the model wrote: ‘Today I took a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have kept to myself for over five years. To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured by Zeltiq’s CoolSculpting procedure which did the opposite of what it promised.’
CoolSculpting is the brand name for cryolipolysis, a procedure which cools fat to a temperature so frozen, dead fat cells can be excreted out of the body through the liver.
Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2010, cryolipolysis was first offered in UK clinics shortly afterwards. It has proved both popular and successful for many patients looking to reduce fat without the surgeon’s knife.
Last night Dr Ravi Jain, a specialist in aesthetic medicine at Riverbanks Wellness, Hertfordshire, told the Mail patients are informed of the risks in the UK. ‘Reactions are extremely unusual, which isn’t to say they don’t happen. But this treatment really changes the quality of people’s lives.
‘In a nutshell, it’s the first truly non-invasive treatment for body contouring that works. It really does do what it says on the tin.
‘It’s hugely popular and I would say we are treating a few patients every day in our clinics.’
He added: ‘For Linda Evangelista, her appearance has been her life and her success so I can quite understand that any changes for her [that are out of the ordinary] could be devastating.’
But yesterday, the 56-year-old model, (pictured in April 2017) revealed she had been suffering a ‘cycle of deep depression’ and ‘self-loathing’ so severe it had made her a recluse as a result of a rare reaction to a 'fat freezing' cosmetic procedure
In a poignant post to her 900,000 followers on Instagram, the model said the reaction she had developed was Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, or PAH, a rare and adverse effect of when fatty tissue grows instead of shrinking in response to treatment. Pictured: Evangelista on social media in 2017 hiding her face in a mask
The CoolSculpting website says it is used for ‘treatment of visible fat bulges in the submental (under the chin) and submandibular (under the jawline) areas, thigh, abdomen and flank, along with bra fat, back fat, underneath the buttocks (banana roll), and upper arm’. Zeltiq parent company Allergan has been contacted by the Mail for comment.
It was not immediately clear from Evangelista’s post on what areas of the body she’d had treatment, but she went on to say: ‘It increased, not decreased, my fat cells and left me permanently deformed even after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries.
‘I have been left, as the media has described, “unrecognisable”.’
This, of course, was reference to one of the very few occasions in which the model has been spotted, in public in recent years.
With her hair scraped back beneath a baseball cap, figure disguised under a baggy coat and her trademark chiseled jawline noticeably absent, she cut an uncharacteristically dowdy figure when she walked through the airport in New York in 2017, having largely disappeared from the public eye in 2015.
That was the year she appeared at the Met Gala, statuesque in a red gown in which she appeared a little heavier around the midriff than previously.
A year later, in Tokyo, she looked strained, a boxy jacket concealing her torso, her swanlike neck noticeably thickened. Hinting at a lawsuit, Evangelista said the reaction she had developed was Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, or PAH, a rare and adverse effect of when fatty tissue grows instead of shrinking in response to treatment.
Claiming she had not been made aware of the risk prior to the procedures, Evangelista wrote: ‘PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, it has sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness and the lowest depths of self-loathing.
'You are loved': The '90s supermodels all commended Evangelista for sharing why she has become a 'recluse' over the past five years
Support system: Dozens of famous models, actors, and designers flocked to the comments to praise Evangelista for opening up about her struggle
‘In the process, I have become a recluse. With this lawsuit, I am moving forward to rid myself of my shame and going public with my story. I’m so tired of living this way. I would like to
