Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
Linda Evangelistawants to put her legal battle behind her aftersettling her claimsthat a CoolSculpting procedure left her “disfigured.”
“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,” the 57-year-old supermodel said in a statement sharedon InstagramTuesday.
A source close to Evangelista tells PEOPLE, “With this settled and therecent Fendi ad campaign, Linda is ready to try to move on. After literally years of hiding, she’s out and about.”
“She feels all the goodwill from her industry, other supermodels and her fans, and it makes her feel loved,” adds the source.
Reps from CoolSculpting parent company Zeltiq Aesthetics did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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Evangelistafirst shared her storyon Instagram in September in a lengthy statement, alleging that CoolSculpting — a popular, FDA-cleared “fat-freezing” procedure that’s been promoted as a noninvasive alternative to liposuction — left her “permanently deformed” and “brutally disfigured.”
She then sued Zeltiq Aesthetics later that month for $50 million in damages, alleging that she’s been unable to work since undergoing seven sessions of CoolSculpting in a dermatologist’s office from August 2015 to February 2016.
In February, Evangelistaopened upto PEOPLE about the emotional and physical pain that has cast a shadow on her life in recent years.
Speaking through tears, she said, “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.”
She told PEOPLE that three months after receiving treatments, the areas that were supposed to shrink were suddenly growing and hardening before ultimately turning numb.
“I tried to fix it myself, thinking I was doing something wrong,” said Evangelista, noting that she began dieting and exercising more. “I got to where I wasn’t eating at all. I thought I was losing my mind.”
RELATED VIDEO: Linda Evangelista Appears in First Fashion Campaign Since Fat-Freezing Nightmare: ‘So Grateful’
A doctor she saw in June 2016 told her that she was suffering from Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a rare side effect that affects less than 1 percent of CoolSculpting patients, where the freezing process causes the affected fatty tissue to thicken and expand.
“He told me no amount of dieting, and no amount of exercise was ever going to fix it,” she recalled.
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“I hope I can shed myself of some of the shame and help other people who are in the same situation as me,” she said at the time. “That’s my goal.”
source: people.com
