Linda Evangelista has made her modeling comeback on the cover of British Vogue after a cosmetic procedure she says left her "brutally disfigured."
The 57-year-old opened up on barely leaving the house for 5 years after suffering a rare side effect from having fat cells removed in a procedure known as cryolipolysis.
Evangelista described how 3 months after the treatment parts of her body, including her face, started protruding. Eventually a doctor diagnosed her with a rare side effect of the treatment called paradoxical adipose hyperplasia.
The side effect can occur when the treated area becomes firmer and forms an enlarged mass under the skin rather than breaking down.
"If I had known side effects may include losing your livelihood and you'll end up so depressed that you hate yourself. I wouldn't have taken that risk," an emotional Evangelista told British Vogue.
In preparing for the cover shoot, the supermodel had her face, jaw and neck pulled back with tape and elastics.
She also wore an oversized hat with a headscarf to cover her injuries.
"That's not my jaw and neck in real life—and I can't walk around with tape and elastics everywhere," she told the magazine.
The mother of one also explained why she allowed the photoshoot to tape her skin back.
"You know what, I'm trying to love myself as I am," Evangelista said.
"Look, for photos I always think we're here to create fantasies. We're creating dreams. I think it's allowed. Also, all my insecurities are taken care of in these pictures, so I got to do what I love to do."
The supermodel described how she would only leave the house to take her son Augustin, 15, to school but knew she had to start living her life again.
"I couldn't live in that pain any longer," she said.
"I knew I had to make a change, and the only change was to tell my truth."
Trying everything from liposuction twice to a range of other treatments, Evangelista has spent years trying to undo the damage from the cryolipolysis procedure.
"I have incisions all over my body. I have had stitches, I have worn compression garments under my chin, I've had my entire body tightly girdled for eight weeks—nothing helped," she said.
Evangelista went public with her ordeal last year in an emotional Instagram post where she revealed her fat cells were increasing instead of decreasing.
She also began suing the company Zeltiq CoolSculpting, but the parties both moved to dismiss the case.
"I'm pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case. I look forward to the next chapter of my life with friends and family, and am happy to put this matter behind me," Evangelista wrote on her Instagram in July.
She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the first batch of true supermodels, alongside Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington.
Evangelista is also well known for the iconic quote: "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
