Former supermodel Linda Evangelista filed a US $50 million lawsuit for cosmetic procedures that she said left her “brutally disfigured” and turned her into a recluse.
The Canadian model, one of the biggest figures on runways and magazine covers in the 1990s, said in an Instagram post that she had undergone fat reduction treatment about five years ago.
“To my fans who have wondered why I haven’t been working while my peers’ careers have prospered, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured by Zeltiq’s CoolSculpting procedure that did the opposite of what it promised,” she wrote in the post this Wednesday.
Evangelista said she suffered a rare side effect called paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) after the procedures, which causes people to develop swelling in the treated areas.
“The PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, it has sent me into a cycle of deep depression, deep sadness and the lowest depths of self-loathing. In the process, I have become a recluse,” she said.
Loss of income and heartbreak
Zeltiq Aesthetics, a unit of Allergan Aesthetics and parent company AbbVie, did not return a call for comment.
Evangelista filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in New York against Zeltiq for negligence, misleading advertising and alleging the company failed to warn customers of potential side effects.
The lawsuit says Evangelista underwent multiple procedures between 2015 and 2016 to reduce fat on her thighs, abdomen, back, flanks and chin. Corrective surgery had not worked to repair PAH.
She is seeking $ 50 million in damages for lost income and emotional distress, saying she has been unable to work as a model and has not earned anything as a model since 2016.