Linda Evangelista shares pictures of what she calls disfiguring CoolSculpting results

Famed supermodel Linda Evangelista has spent practically 5 years in seclusion after she says she was disfigured by a preferred beauty therapy, however now she is coming ahead to share the situation that has left her physique “unrecognizable.”

Evangelista, 56, spoke with Individuals for the quilt story of its upcoming problem concerning the “hiding and disgrace” after she developed disfiguring lumps on her physique that she says had been attributable to CoolSculpting, a preferred fat-freezing therapy considered as a non-invasive different to liposuction.

“I cherished being up on the catwalk. Now I dread operating into somebody I do know,” she informed Individuals. “I can’t stay like this anymore, in hiding and disgrace. I simply couldn’t stay on this ache any longer. I’m prepared to lastly communicate.”

“In her personal phrases, she’s change into a recluse,” Individuals deputy West Coast editor Jason Sheeler informed Emilie Ikeda on TODAY Wednesday. “She says she’s agoraphobic.

“She says she nonetheless doesn’t look within the mirror. She nonetheless doesn’t wish to depart her dwelling.”

Evangelista first shared in an Instagram put up in September that she had change into depressed and infrequently went out in public as a result of results she stated had been attributable to the CoolSculpting procedures. The supermodel who has graced greater than 700 journal covers in her profession and famously starred in George Michael’s “Freedom” music video in 1990 now fears her modeling profession is over.

She filed a $50 million lawsuit in September in opposition to CoolSculpting’s father or mother firm, Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., saying she has been unable to work as a result of problems from seven classes she underwent in 2015-16.

“I had cussed fats. CoolSculpting appealed to me as a result of it wasn’t radical. It was like a spot therapy,” she stated on the Individuals Each Day podcast.

Evangelista alleged in her lawsuit that she “developed onerous, bulging, painful plenty beneath her pores and skin” after present process the therapy to interrupt down fats cells in her stomach, flanks, again and bra space, inside thighs and chin. She gave a glimpse on the areas within the Individuals cowl story.

She underwent two liposuction surgical procedures that weren’t in a position to repair the deformities, in accordance with her lawsuit.

Zeltiq Aesthetics declined remark to TODAY about Evangelista’s lawsuit, citing ongoing litigation, however stated in a press release that CoolSculpting “has been effectively studied with greater than 100 scientific publications and greater than 11 million remedies carried out worldwide.”

The therapy makes use of very low temperatures, or cryotherapy, to destroy fats cells. TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager gave it a attempt in 2018, with Savannah saying “it’s actually only a spot therapy.”

The process is accredited by the Meals and Drug Administration, and the unwanted side effects Evangelista skilled are uncommon and disclosed to sufferers. Evangelista stated she was by no means made conscious of the dangers.

She informed Individuals she was identified with paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a uncommon facet impact the place the freezing course of in CoolSculpting causes the fatty tissue to thicken and develop.

“The bulges are protrusions,” she informed Individuals. “And so they’re onerous. If I stroll with out a girdle in a gown, I’ll have chafing to the purpose of virtually bleeding. As a result of it’s not like mushy fats rubbing, it’s like onerous fats rubbing.”

“The bulges and protrusions are everlasting she says, and they also might not go away,” Sheeler stated. “And so proper now, all she is aware of is that she doesn’t wish to cover anymore, and that she needs to start out speaking about it.”

Evangelista says the transformation goes past her look.

“I don’t acknowledge myself bodily, however I don’t acknowledge me as an individual any longer both,” she informed Individuals.