Former supermodel Linda Evangelista has revealed she has battled two breast cancer diagnoses in the last five years.
Speaking to Wall Street Journal in an interview published this week, the 58-year-old Canadian opened up about her first breast cancer diagnosis in 2018 — for which she underwent a double mastectomy, and her second, which was discovered during her annual mammogram last year.
She has gone through chemotherapy and radiotherapy since last July’s discovery to treat the lump that was found on her chest. Evangelista explained that her prognosis is “good but not great.”
“Once it’s come back, there’s a chance. I know I have one foot in the grave, but I’m totally in celebration mode,” she said of the second diagnosis, which was revealed to be cancer of the pectoral muscle.
The mother of one reportedly told her doctors she didn’t want the procedure to “look pretty.”
“I want you to excavate,” she recounts telling her doctors. “I want to see a hole in my chest when you’re done. Do you understand me? I’m not dying from this.”
In January this year, Evangelista’s friend, fellow supermodel Tatjana Patitz died at age 56 of metastatic breast cancer.
Evangelista revealed that she was intentional about keeping her struggles private while she was going through treatment.
“I thought to myself, I will share this one day but while I am going through it, absolutely not,” she said. “I don’t want the Daily Mail waiting outside my door like they do every time something happens. ‘Linda seen for the first time since blah blah blah.’”
According to Evangelista, she had “kept it quiet” about the diagnosis while undergoing treatment and “only a handful of people knew.”
“The margins were not good, and due to other health factors, without hesitation, because I wanted to put everything behind me and not to have to deal with this, I opted for a bilateral mastectomy,” she added.
“Thinking I was good and set for life. Breast cancer was not going to kill me.”.
Evangelista has stayed away from the spotlight in the last few years after a “fat-freezing treatment” she underwent between 2015-16 left her “permanently disfigured.”
In 2021, she sued Zeltiq Aestethics, the company that administered the CoolSculpting System to her. Zeltiq specializes in cryolipolysis — a process of fat removal by freezing.
Evangelista sought $50 million from Zeltiq, claiming she suffered “severe and permanent personal injuries and disfigurement…pain and suffering, severe emotional distress and mental anguish.” Last July, she announced that she’d settled the case with the company.
In her interview with the Wall Street Journal, she reflected on the “magic potion,” saying “it just backfired on me.”
Evangelista has gradually eased back into the spotlight to promote a new documentary series “The Super Models” which is set to premiere globally on 20 September on Apple TV+.
In the series, she joins fellow 90s catwalk stars Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington as they reflect on their global superstar fame over three decades ago.
This month, she appeared on the cover of Vogue with her co-stars — the occasion marked the first time all four were together in the same room as women in their 50s.