Linda Evangelista Settles CoolSculpting Suit After “Horrific Ordeal” With Cosmetic Procedure
Linda Evangelista announced on Instagram yesterday that she has settled a lawsuit with CoolSculpting 10 months after alleging that the cosmetic procedure left her “brutally disfigured” and emotionally devastated.
“I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case,” Evangelista shared with 1.2 million followers. “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.”
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Evangelista did not reveal terms of the settlement. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Evangelista’s attorney, Daniel Markham at Wrobel Markham, as well as CoolSculpting parent company Allergan, for additional comment. (In 2017, Allergan acquired Zeltiq, which makes the CoolSculpting device.)
Evangelista’s declaration followed a September 2021 reveal that generated worldwide headlines when the supermodel claimed that a routine and popular fat-reduction procedure called CoolSculpting did the opposite. “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,” she wrote, adding that it increased fat cells and “left me permanently deformed even after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries. I have been left, as the media has described, ‘unrecognizable.'”
The star went on to claim that she developed what is called paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, commonly referred to as PAH and said to be a side effect of the fat-freezing procedure. According to Healthline, PAH is “a very rare but serious side effect” that occurs most often in male patients. At the time of the original post, Evangelista teased a lawsuit and days later, she followed up by sharing her attorney’s statement. “Remarkably, Zeltiq’s marketing material and the CoolSculpting website failed to mention the risk of PAH until after Ms. Evangelista underwent the procedures,” her attorney claimed, adding that the product’s liability lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, was in response to Evangelista’s “grievous injuries.”
Evangelista promised that her ordeal would be told through the legal system, but it appears that the two parties have since come to an agreement. She found other ways to share her side of the story. After living largely as a recluse for close to five years, Evangelista stepped out and appeared on the cover of People magazine. In the story, she revealed that she had fallen into a cycle of depression and that she missed her legendary supermodel career, one that saw her face plastered upon countless magazine covers as one of the most in-demand models of the 1990s.
“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,” she told the magazine. In an accompanying IG post, she added, “I’m not done telling my story, and I will continue sharing my experience to rid myself of shame, learn to love myself again, and hopefully help others in the process.”
The latest chapter in the lawsuit comes as Evangelista has returned to work. She is fronting a new campaign for luxury brand Fendi to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fendi Baguette, designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi. She teased the gig by posting that she was “so grateful.”
