Linda Evangelista Revealed Her CoolSculpting Nightmare Which Left Her “Brutally Disfigured” And A “Recluse”
Linda Evangelista will forever be one of the greatest supermodels in the game and should be booking shows and shoots left and right. Like, booking agents should regularly be saying, “Oh, Linda’s not available. Get one of those Hadids then, I guess.” But Linda has been pretty MIA the last several years. Last night, Linda revealed that while a lot of her 90s supermodel peers are back in the spotlight and thriving, she has been hiding away from the public on purpose calling herself a “recluse” after a CoolSculpting treatment left her “brutally disfigured.” It seems that the procedure can backfire and trigger something where instead of fat cells shrinking, they grow. I know what you’re thinking: the Kardashian Koven should be on high alert!
The Hollywood Reporter says that CoolSculpting is the Zeltiq-brand name for cryolipolysis, which is a non-surgical procedure that reduces fat deposits in your body with super cold temperatures. It’s basically body contouring. Unfortunately, Linda’s procedure took a hard left and she developed paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) which Healthline called “a very rare but serious side effect” where “fat cells in the treatment site grow larger rather than smaller. It’s not fully understood why this occurs. While it’s a cosmetic rather than physically dangerous side effect, paradoxical adipose hyperplasia doesn’t disappear on its own.”
Back in 2017, The Daily Mail ran a story with the headline: “Linda Evangelista is unrecognizable as she jets out of New York… as the rest of the original supers return to the catwalk.” The story showed Linda at the airport looking like a regular person, which is just unacceptable!!!! Criminal, even. Linda mentioned that headline specifically when she revealed the trauma she’s been living with in silence, writing:
“Today I took a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and 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. 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, “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. In the process, I have become a recluse… I’m so tired of living this way. I would like to walk out my door with my head held high, despite not looking like myself any longer.”
Here’s Linda’s post:
The Fashion Law says that Linda filed a $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq in New York federal court on Tuesday. Linda’s lawsuit accused Zeltiq of fraud and misleading advertising. Linda claims she was never told about the risks of getting PAH:
According to the 54-page complaint that she filed in a New York federal court on Tuesday, Evangelista asserts that between August 2015 and February 2016, she underwent CoolSculpting treatments, an “effective, non-invasive alternative to liposuction surgery for contouring small areas of the body … based on ZELTIQ’s representations that CoolSculpting was safe.” The famous model claims that she was unaware of the potential dangers associated with the procedure, including the risk of paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (“PAH”) – which is “a known serious adverse effect where the targeted fat cells increase in number and size (and actually grow larger) after CoolSculpting treatment and form hard, bulging masses under the skin” – because ZELTIQ’s direct-to-consumer advertising “misrepresented to consumers that the CoolSculpting System was safe and effective for its intended use and intentionally omitted material information by failing to disclose known health risks and serious adverse effects.”
To make matters worse, Evangelista claims that ZELTIQ was “aware of the actual incidence and occurrence of PAH, and other serious, adverse effects, and knew the liability it faced as a result at least as early as March 2013.” Despite such “clear knowledge of the incidence and occurrence of PAH after use of the CoolSculpting System,” the complaint states that ZELTIQ “failed to inform (or adequately warn) consumers, including Ms. Evangelista, of the known risk of developing PAH as a result of using the CoolSculpting System.”
Stylist Karla Welch, designers Brandon Maxwell, Jeremy Scott, Philip Treacy, Marc Jacobs, and lots of other famous people got into Linda’s comments, including fellow 90s supermodels, Helena Christensen, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and like everyone else in fashion also commented. But most interesting was Gwyneth Paltrow, who just put a heart emoji. Which I would call wise of her since she’s frequently selling people snake oil so maybe she should sit this one out.
A quick skip through the internet shows that CoolScuplting is expensive and the reviews are mixed with some calling it a scam. There are also stories and pictures of people who got PAH from that shit. And as everyone knows, Linda said in 1990 that she doesn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day. $10,000 in 1990 is about $20,000 now, and since it’s been 6 years since her first CoolSculpting procedure, that means she’s lost out on over $43 million! I guess that’s where the $50 million figure comes in. Now I should sue Zeltiq for making me do math!