Linda Evangelista Doesn’t Blame Herself for Plastic Surgery Incident

Linda Evangelista is opening up about the cosmetic procedure incident that she said left her “permanently deformed” and “brutally disfigured.”

“How people feel about me still bothers me a little bit, but it used to bother me a lot,” Evangelista, 58, said to The Sunday Times in an interview published on Sunday, November 26. “I know now that I didn’t do anything wrong. For the longest time I thought I did.”

She continued: “I’m not completely rid of it, but I work hard at getting rid of the guilt and the shame. And I’m not letting it ruin my life. I wouldn’t have stayed locked up if I’d known how many people cared.”

The model revealed via Instagram in September 2021 that she underwent the CoolSculpting procedure designed to “decrease” her fat cells. Instead, the cosmetic procedure allegedly “increased” them and left her “permanently deformed” even after two “unsuccessful corrective surgeries.”

Evangelista, who reached supermodel stardom alongside Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, also said on Sunday that she doesn’t look in the mirror.

“My son will say to me sometimes, ‘You might want to know that you have a pimple on your chin.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ But life is better without mirrors,” she said.

Evangelista, who is a two-time breast cancer survivor, noted that her greatest goal is to “stay alive.” (She was diagnosed in both December 2018 and July 2020.)

“When I hear other people’s stories, I think, ‘Oh God, I have no right to complain,’” she said to the outlet.

Related: Stars Who Beat Breast Cancer: Linda Evangelista, Cynthia Nixon and More

Many celebrities have spoken out about their personal battles with breast cancer over the years. Julia Louis-Dreyfus went public with her breast cancer diagnosis in September 2017 via Instagram. Nearly one year later, she had successfully beaten the illness and returned to work on Veep. “It sounds kind of corny, but there’s something about after […]

Evangelista previously revealed in September 2021 that she developed a rare side effect called Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH). She noted that she had been left, “as the media has described, ‘unrecognizable.’”

“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,” Evangelista wrote via Instagram at the time. “In the process, I have become a recluse.”

Evangelista sued Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. for $50 million in damages. The lawsuit was settled in July 2022 for an undisclosed amount.

“I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case,” she wrote in an Instagram statement following the agreement. “I look forward to the next chapter of my life with friends and family, and am happy to put this matter behind me. I am truly grateful for the support I have received from those who have reached out.”