Linda Evangelista is looking ahead. The 90’s fashion icon, 57, announced Tuesday July 19 that she is “pleased to have settled” her CoolSculpting case, after she says a fat freezing procedure left her “brutally disfigured” several years ago. “I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case,” she wrote in an official statement posted to Instagram. “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.”
The news came just on the heels of the release of her first modeling photos since the debacle caused the previously highly visible model to become reclusive. Linda was seen looking flawless in pics for Fendi in a July 16 Instagram post. She rocked stacked pink satin Fendi hats and classic silver Fendi baguette bags in the stunning accessories ad.
Linda has previously said that the CoolSculpting procedure, which she had done between 2015 and 2016, left her with a major change in appearance — something that turned out to be traumatic for a person whose livelihood depends on their recognizable look. “Today I took a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have kept to myself for over five years,” she wrote via Instagram back on September 22.
“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. [It] did the opposite of what it promised. 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 described, ‘unrecognizable.’”
Linda said that the botched procedure resulted in a diagnosis of Pardoxical adipose hyperplasa (PAH). She has been re-emerging to public life, and has been spotted out and about in June in New York City. Back in February, she was photographed browsing Manhattan’s Chelsea Market.