After years away, Linda Evangelista is back in the spotlight.
The iconic supermodel is the cover star of British Vogue's September 2022 issue.
Evangelista was photographed for the cover by Steven Meisel wearing a shiny red Dolce & Gabbana coat, a red head scarf and a matching red Laird Hatters cotton bucket hat.
"In front of the camera or far from its gaze, @LindaEvangelista was, is and will always be the real deal," the publication wrote in the caption of an Instagram post Thursday, alongside a photo of the cover.
While Evangelista has been featured on more than 60 magazine covers in the course of her career, this is her first one since revealing her fat-freezing issues in September last year.
Evangelista, who remained mostly bundled up in layers of luxe fabrics, hats and scarves throughout the cover shoot, said in an accompanying interviewwith the publication that she hasn't yet "cured mentally" since her CoolSculpting procedure and the ensuing issues she said she faced.
However, she said she's grateful for the support she's received from friends and from the industry. "You're not going to see me in a swimsuit, that's for sure," she said in the interview, also published Thursday. "It's going to be difficult to find jobs with things protruding from me; without retouching, or squeezing into things, or taping things or compressing or tricking."
Evangelista also clarified that makeup artist Pat McGrath used tape and elastics to enhance the look of her face, jaw and neck for the cover shoot.
"That's not my jaw and neck in real life -- and I can't walk around with tape and elastics everywhere," said Evangelista.
While she said that she is working to regain her self-confidence, she was open to altering the images for the shoot. "You know what, I’m trying to love myself as I am, but for the photos…. Look, for photos I always think we're here to create fantasies. We're creating dreams. I think it's allowed," she said. "Also, all my insecurities are taken care of in these pictures, so I got to do what I love to do."
Last year, Evangelista stated in an Instagram post that she had filed a lawsuit against the company behind CoolSculpting, Zeltiq Aesthetics, a subsidiary of Allergan, for $50 million, claiming the procedure had left her "brutally disfigured" and prompted her to withdraw from public life.
Evangelista alleged in the lawsuit that she had not been properly warned that the procedure could cause Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, and that her procedure had caused PAH, which led to a number of subsequent corrective surgeries. She also alleged it had caused her significant disfigurement, severe emotional distress, pain and suffering, and had rendered her "unemployable."
Allergan Aesthetics states on its website that PAH is a potential side effect of CoolSculpting, but says such side effects are "rare."
At the time, Zeltiq declined to comment on ongoing litigation. In a December court filing, the company claimed that Evangelista had been warned of the procedure's risks beforehand and asked the court to toss out the case.
The lawsuit has since been resolved. Evangelista thanked her fans for their support back in July, announcing the settlement on Instagram and stating that she looked forward to "put[ting] this matter behind me."
"We are pleased to have resolved this matter with Ms. Evangelista," a Zeltiq representative said in a statement to British Vogue. "Our focus continues to be on empowering confidence by providing safe, reliable aesthetics products and services backed by science. CoolSculpting is an FDA-cleared, non-invasive treatment for visible fat bulges in the nine areas of the body."
The terms of the settlement are unknown. "Good Morning America" has reached out to Zeltiq for comment on the matter.
Speaking with British Vogue, Evangelista opened up about how she said she was influenced to undergo the treatment, referencing the procedure's televised ads.
"Those CoolSculpting commercials were on all the time, on CNN, on MSNBC, over and over, and they would ask, 'Do you like what you see in the mirror?' They were speaking to me. It was about stubborn fat in areas that wouldn't budge. It said no downtime, no surgery and … I drank the magic potion, and I would because I'm a little vain. So I went for it -- and it backfired."
MORE: Linda Evangelista stars in first fashion campaign since revealing fat-freezing complaintsEvangelista's British Vogue cover and interview come just a few short months after she posed for her first fashion campaign with Fendi since revealing her fat-freezing issues. Meisel shot that ad as well.
