Culture Desk, Sep 23 (EFE).- Linda Evangelista, one of the original supermodels of the 1990s, has said she has been left “permanently deformed” after a cosmetic fat reduction procedure.
“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… [a procedure] which did the opposite of what it promised,” Evangelista, 56, told her 960,000 Instagram followers.
“It increased, not decreased, my fat cells and left me permanently deformed after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries. I have been left, as the media has described, ‘unrecognizable’,” she adds.
The Canadian model said she has developed paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, which was a risk she said she had not been informed of before the procedures.
The condition has not only destroyed her livelihood, she said but has also plunged her into a “cycle of deep depression, profound sadness, and the lowest depths of self-loathing. In the process, have become a recluse.”
Evangelista said she has kept her struggle to herself for over five years and she’s suing and moving forward to “rid me of shame.”
“I would like to walk out my door with my head held high, despite not looking like myself any longer.”
In response to her post, fellow 1990s supermodels expressed their support.
“I applaud you for your courage and strength to share your experience and not be held hostage by it anymore. I can’t image the pain you [have] gone through mentally these past 5 years,” Naomi Campbell said.
“You are loved,” wrote Christy Turlington, while Helena Christensen said “it is so important and beautiful when someone steps out of the shadow and is brutally honest and real. Thank you for being beautiful inside and out.”
Text and images courtesy of EFE
