Model Linda Evangelista has appeared on the cover of Vogue for the first time since saying she had been “deformed” by a cosmetic procedure which went wrong.
In the photos, tape and elastic were used to pull back her face, jaw and neck, hiding the problems caused when a fat-freezing treatment “backfired”.
She said: “That’s not my jaw and neck in real life – and I can’t walk around with tape and elastics everywhere.”
She told the magazine she was “trying to love myself as I am”.
“But for the photos,” she added. “Look, for photos I always think we’re here to create fantasies. We’re creating dreams. I think it’s allowed. Also, all my insecurities are taken care of in these pictures, so I got to do what I love to do.”
It’s almost a year since the Canadian supermodel, one of the best-known faces on catwalks and magazine covers in the 1990s and 2000s, said she had disappeared from the spotlight because she had been “brutally disfigured” by the non-surgical fat reduction procedure.
She said the CoolSculpting treatment – a brand name for cryolipolysis, which uses cold temperatures to reduce fat deposits – went wrong when a rare side-effect increased, instead of decreasing, fat cells.
Now, she has told British Vogue: “If I had known side-effects may include losing your livelihood and you’ll end up so depressed that you hate yourself… I wouldn’t have taken that risk.”
All the photos in the magazine only show the front of her face, with her neck, ears and hair covered.
She said she had been attracted to the procedure by its advertising and her own vanity.
“Those CoolSculpting commercials were on all the time, on CNN, on MSNBC, over and over, and they would ask, ‘Do you like what you see in the mirror?’ They were speaking to me.
“It was about stubborn fat in areas that wouldn’t budge. It said no downtime, no surgery and… I drank the magic potion, and I would because I’m a little vain. So I went for it – and it backfired.”
She sued Zeltiq Aesthetics, the company behind the treatment, and said in July that the lawsuit had been settled.
In a statement to Vogue, Zeltiq said: “We are pleased to have resolved this matter with Ms Evangelista. Our focus continues to be on empowering confidence by providing safe, reliable aesthetics products and services backed by science. CoolSculpting is an FDA-cleared, non-invasive treatment for visible fat bulges in nine areas of the body.”
‘I knew my worth’
Elsewhere in the Vogue interview, Evangelista recalled her early modelling days and her rise to fame in the 1980s.
Asked if she was aware of her beauty, and if boys wanted to date her, she replied: “No! I had tons of friends, but no. You know what it was? I was tall, and people used to tell my mum, ‘Oh, she’s tall. She should be a model.’ That, and I was obsessed with fashion.”
She also discussed campaigning to get higher pay for models. “I had the power of being able to hold out,” she explained.
“That’s all it came down to. But also, I was thinking about different industries. Athletes aren’t all paid the same – some are paid more for what they bring to the game. It wasn’t a matter of thinking I was better… but I knew my worth.”
