Supermodel Linda Evangelista shares first photos after cosmetic procedure left her ‘disfigured’

Former supermodel Linda Evangelista is ready to show and talk about her body after a nightmare cosmetic procedure left her ‘brutally disfigured’ five years ago.

Talking to People magazine for their latest cover story, Evangelista opened up about undergoing an FDA-approved, fat-freezing procedure named ‘CoolSculpting’, in 2015.

Promoted as a non-invasive alternative to liposuction, CoolSculpting instead left Evangelista ‘permanently deformed’ and ‘brutally disfigured’ after she had seven sessions of it at a dermatologist’s office from August 2015 to February 2016.

"I loved being up on the catwalk. Now I dread running into someone I know. I can't live like this anymore, in hiding and shame. I just couldn't live in this pain any longer. I'm willing to finally speak,” Evangelista told People.

The supermodel shared that she noticed ‘bulges’ at all the places that she wanted to shrink within three months of the treatment sessions. The bulges then hardened and eventually turned numb.

“I tried to fix it myself, thinking I was doing something wrong. I got to where I wasn't eating at all. I thought I was losing my mind,” she shared.

She then went to her doctor in June 2016 and was diagnosed with Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH).

“I was like, 'What the hell is that?' And he told me no amount of dieting, and no amount of exercise was ever going to fix it,” said Evangelista.

PAH affects less than 1% of those that undergo CoolSculpting, reported People. The cover story marks the first time that Evangelista has been photographed in the last five years.