Linda Evangelista's comeback: "I'm done hiding"

In the 1990s she was one of the most photographed women in the world, the most magnetic and chameleon-like, the one who along with Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington could afford not to wake up "for less than $10,000 a day". In the past five years, however, Linda Evangelista has been living in a kind of self-isolation, withdrawn into herself, ashamed of a body and a face she no longer recognizes. In a long interview with People, the supermodel herself recounts the nightmare of emotional and physical pain that has held her prisoner for so long. It all started with what was supposed to be a series of non-surgical and non-invasive treatments, seven sessions of coolsculpting or cryopolysis, which reduces localized fat deposits using cold. Three months later, Linda began to notice bulges along her neck, thighs and at bra level. The very areas she wanted to shrink were becoming hard and numb. Not knowing what was happening to her body, the model tried to remedy the problem by increasing her exercise and starting a strict diet. Finally, in 2016, she visited her doctor who diagnosed her with paradoxical adipose hyperplasia. This is a rare side effect that affects about 1% of people who undergo cryopolysis: instead of shrinking, the cells treated with coolsculpting increase in volume to the point of fat hypertrophy.

"I loved being up on the catwalk. Now I dread running into someone I know. I can't live like this anymore, in hiding and shame. I just couldn't live in this pain any longer."

Linda tells People, pointing out that accepting her new self is a long and ongoing journey, a battle of ups and downs:

 

"I don't look in the mirror. It doesn't look like me[...] She (supermodel Linda Evangelista) is sort of gone."

The first step in regaining control of her life was to share her story, first with a post on Instagram and then with this interview, but just as important for Evangelista was refusing the deal offered by Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., namely two liposuctions to repair the damage in exchange for a confidentiality agreement. Linda decided to share her story, to pay for the surgeries (which unfortunately did not have resolving outcomes), to sue the company for $50 million in damages, "alleging that she's been unable to work since undergoing seven sessions of CoolSculpting in a dermatologist's office from August 2015 to February 2016".

Linda is fighting back, but, now that she says she no longer recognizes herself either physically or as a person, she can't help but wonder:

"Why do we feel the need to do these things [to our bodies]? I always knew I would age. And I know that there are things a body goes through. But I just didn't think I would look like this."

 

These words underline a delicate issue with respect to women's physical appearance. A predominant figure like hers in the world of modeling, struggling with the expectations and standards of an industry in which aesthetics is fundamental, certainly experiences the pressure of age and a changing body. Is this a testimony to be internalized in order to accept the natural change of the body and leave an imprint in the modeling industry to increase the duration of the careers of models?