Ex-supermodel Linda Evangelista says cosmetic procedure left her 'disfigured'
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NEW YORK • Former supermodel Linda Evangelista, said she had become "brutally disfigured" and "unrecognisable" after a cosmetic body-sculpting procedure that had turned her into a recluse.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, she referred to filing a lawsuit, saying that she was taking "a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have kept to myself for over five years".
She added: "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."
Evangelista, 56, said after the fat-freezing procedure, she developed paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a side effect in which patients develop firm tissue masses in the treatment areas. She said the cosmetic procedure left her "permanently deformed even after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries". She said she had not been told of the risk.
"PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, but it has also sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness and the lowest depths of self-loathing," she wrote. "In the process, I have become a recluse."
She was known as one of the five top supermodels in the 1990s.
She filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Zeltiq Aesthetics in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit said she was seeking compensatory damages of US$50 million (S$68 million) for her distress and loss of work, promotions and public appearances.
According to CoolSculpting, its procedure has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of visible fat bulges.
Evangelista also said that the public scrutiny of her appearance had harmed her emotionally.
"I have been left, as the media has described, 'unrecognisable'," she said.
NYTIMES
