Supermodel Linda Evangelista has settled a legal case after claiming she has been left “permanently deformed” by a cosmetic procedure
Sky News has seen documents which confirm the case has been settled out of court. Both sides will pay their own legal fees and costs.
The 57-year-old, who alongside stars including Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington was one of the most famous faces in fashion in the early 1990s, said she developed paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) from a fat-freezing treatment called CoolSculpting.
Evangelista alleged this was a side effect that increased rather than decreased her fat cells, leaving her “deformed”, which she said led to her becoming a “recluse” for several years.
Evangelista (L) and Naomi Campbell (R) flank German designer Karl Lagerfeld in 1996
She first spoke publicly about having the procedure in September 2021, saying she was “tired of living this way” and wanted to rid herself of “shame”. She filed a $50m lawsuit in New York against Zeltiq, the company behind the treatment, according to Reuters news agency.
Now, in a statement shared on Instagram, the Canadian model has told her 1.2 million followers that the case has been settled.
“I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case,” she said. “I look forward to the next chapter of my life with friends and family, and am happy to put this matter behind me.
“I am truly grateful for the support I have received from those who have reached out.”
Evangelista started modelling at the age of 16 after she was spotted while taking part in the Miss Teen Niagara beauty pageant.
During her heyday, she was a regular fixture on the catwalk and magazine covers, as well as in numerous advertising campaigns, and is famously known for saying about herself and Turlington: “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.”
She also appeared alongside Campbell, Crawford, Turlington and German model Tatjana Patitz in the famous music video for George Michael’s Freedom! 90.
Evangelista says she fell into ‘a cycle of deep depression’
In her first statement about her ordeal, shared in September 2021, she said: “I have been left, as the media has described, ‘unrecognisable’…
“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.”
Evangelista’s lawsuit said she underwent multiple procedures between 2015 and 2016 to reduce fat on her thighs, torso, and chin. Corrective surgery did not work to fix the PAH, it said.
Sky News has contacted Allergan Aesthetics, of which Zeltiq is a subsidiary, and parent company AbbVie for comment.
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In a statement to People magazine in the US earlier in 2022, a representative for CoolSculpting reportedly said the procedure had been well studied, with more than 100 scientific publications and more than 11 million treatments performed worldwide.
They added that known rare side effects such as PAH “continue to be well-documented in the CoolSculpting information for patients and health care providers”.
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