Linda Evangelista Doesn’t Look in Mirrors After Botched Cosmetic Procedure: ‘Life Is Better’

Linda Evangelista candidly opened up about her life after CoolSculpting left her “permanently deformed.” The model no longer looks in mirrors since facing complications from the fat-freezing method.

“Oh, I don’t look in the mirror,” Linda, 58, told The Sunday Times in an interview published on November 26. “My son will say to me sometimes, ‘You might want to know that you have a pimple on your chin.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ But life is better without mirrors.”

The Canadian fashion icon, who shares son Augustin James with ex-husband François-Henri Pinault, no longer blames herself for the botched procedure.

“I’m not hard on myself any longer,” she told the outlet. “And how people feel about me still bothers me a little bit, but it used to bother me a lot. I know now that I didn’t do anything wrong. For the longest time, I thought I did.”

Linda first came forward to share her experiences with CoolSculpting in September 2021 on Instagram. In the post, she explained why she had taken a step back from the spotlight after two “painful” surgeries.

“Today I took a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have kept to myself for over five years,” the post began. “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.”

The activist shared that she developed a side effect called paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, or PAH​​, which “destroyed” her livelihood. PAH is a rare condition in which patients “develop painless, firm and well-demarcated tissue masses in the treatment areas approximately 3-6 months following cryolipolysis,” per the National Library of Medicine.

She also revealed that she filed a $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq Aesthetics, the company that markets the devices for CoolSculpting procedures, after alleging the procedure left her “brutally disfigured.” Nearly 10 months later, Linda announced on Instagram that the lawsuit was settled, but the terms of the settlement were not made public.

“I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case,” she told her followers in July 2022. “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.”

Her life has certainly changed a lot since undergoing the procedure, including her desire to date. Linda is currently “not interested” in entering the dating scene any time soon.

“I don’t want to sleep with anybody anymore,” she confessed. “I don’t want to hear somebody breathing.”