Linda Evangelista has shared that she secretly battled breast cancer for the second time over the past year.
The supermodel revealed to The Wall Street Journal that her journey began when she had a double mastectomy in December, 2018, after cancer was detected during her yearly mammogram.
She initially believed she had successfully overcome the disease. However, in July last year, she noticed a new lump on her chest. After further surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, she now describes her prognosis as "good."
"Only a handful of people knew. And I'm just not one of those people who has to share everything," Evangelista told WSJ. "I thought to myself, I will share this one day but while I am going through it, absolutely not. I don't want the 'Daily Mail' waiting outside my door like they do every time something happens."
Over the past year, Evangelista has made a comeback in fashion. Her career as a supermodel ended abruptly several years ago when a cosmetic procedure left her "brutally disfigured," but she marked her return on the cover of British Vogue last year.
In preparing for the cover shoot, Evangelista had her face, jaw and neck pulled back with tape and elastics, and she wore an oversized hat with a headscarf to cover her injuries. During an interview with the magazine, she said readers were seeing an edited version of her in the post-surgery photos.
"That's not my jaw and neck in real life — and I can't walk around with tape and elastics everywhere," she said.
Evangelista opened up about how she tried to regain her former appearance after suffering a rare side effect from having fat cells removed in a procedure known as cryolipolysis. Several weeks after the treatment, her face, and other parts of her body, began to protrude.
A doctor diagnosed her with paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, a side effect of the treatment that occurs when the treated area becomes firmer and forms an enlarged mass under the skin.
"If I had known side effects may include losing your livelihood and you'll end up so depressed that you hate yourself, I wouldn't have taken that risk," Evangelista said.
During the interview, Evangelista admitted that while she was learning how to love herself and accept her flaws, she wanted to "create fantasies" for the photo shoot as a way of rediscovering her love for modeling.
"Look, for photos I always think we're here to create fantasies," she said. "We're creating dreams. I think it's allowed. Also, all my insecurities are taken care of in these pictures, so I got to do what I love to do."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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