Supermodel Linda Evangelista Announces Lawsuit Against CoolSculpting For “Brutally Disfiguring” Her
Yesterday, supermodel Linda Evangelista announced on social media why she’s been absent from magazine covers and runways. She’s been suffering from a serious, negative side effect from CoolSculpting procedures.
The 56-year-old Canadian supermodel, who also represents Revlon and Versace, wrote on Instagram, “Today I took a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have 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’.”
Linda continued, “I have developed Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia or PAH, a risk of which I was not made aware before I had the procedures. PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, it has sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness, and the lowest depth of self-loathing. In the process, I have become a recluse. With this lawsuit, I am moving forward to rid myself of my shame, and going public with my story. 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 anymore.”
CoolSculpting, according to the brand’s website, is an “FDA-cleared, noninvasive body contouring technology” that “eliminates up to 20-25% of treated fat cells for good in 9 different areas.”
CoolSculpting uses “a fat-freezing method that aims to get rid of stubborn fat in certain parts of your body” called cryolipolysis. Fat freezes at a higher temperature than skin and organs, so the fat cells can be killed without harming the rest of the body. The immune system then removes the dead fat cells. It was approved by the FDA in 2010. Cryolipolysis has few side effects, but the rarest and most severe is paradoxical fat (adipose) hyperplasia – when the fat cells increase instead of decrease. Less than 1% of patients experience this side effect.