Linda Evangelista spent five years in hiding after losing her body confidence

Linda Evangelista revealed how the pressure of conforming to beauty standards over the years had affected her: "I was just so unhappy in my own skin". Photo / Getty Images

Linda Evangelista spent five years “hibernating” because she hated the way she looked.

The 59-year-old supermodel - who previously sued CoolSculpting for US$50 million ($83.9m) after being left “permanently disfigured” by a fat-freezing procedure in 2016 - lost her confidence and couldn’t bear to look at herself, so she barely left the house other than to walk her dog at “obscure times” or if her 18-year-old son, Augustin, needed her to.

Speaking during a presentation at the WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit, she said: “I was just so unhappy in my own skin.

“I’ve done a lot of therapy since, but I spent years and years focusing on my looks. My self-worth and value became about my looks, and I felt flawed. I didn’t love myself, and I didn’t understand why anybody would love me if I didn’t like being with myself or looking at myself.”

During that time, Linda underwent a double mastectomy in 2018 after being diagnosed with breast cancer, only to contract the disease again four years later.

She underwent both chemotherapy and radiation treatment and even now still has to take a “horrible” medicine, but she is just grateful to be alive.

Evangelista said: “But I celebrate every day that I’m here.”

After making her return to the runway after 15 years away with a 2022 Fendi show, Linda teamed up with Steven Meisel for a book of her most iconic fashion images, and the response she received from the public helped her regain her confidence and rethink her ideas of beauty.

She said: “When I hit that book tour right after the Fendi fashion show, the people in line first to have their book signed were so emotional and shaking and crying.

“Then I did book talks, and I saw the love there, and I couldn’t believe how much support was out there for me. [I wish I] had known that people aren’t as vain as I was then, that they would accept me the way I was and that there is support and love for me as a human being, not just a model.

“I really get what beauty is, and it’s not what I thought it was. It’s deeper than that, and people aren’t as fickle as I thought.”