“I’m not dying of it”
Linda Evangelista diagnosed with breast cancer
© imago/ZUMA Press
Linda Evangelista has opened up about her battle with cancer for the first time. The ex-supermodel received the horror diagnosis twice.
Former supermodel Linda Evangelista (58) has revealed that she has had breast cancer twice in the past. Evangelista, who founded the supermodel hype in the 1990s alongside colleagues such as Cindy Crawford (57) and Naomi Campbell (53), describes her long ordeal. in the Wall Street Journal.
Accordingly, her cancer was first discovered in 2018 during her “annual mammography”. “Without hesitation,” she initially “decided to have a bilateral mastectomy because I wanted to leave everything behind and didn’t have to deal with it.” The model said to herself: “Breast cancer will not kill me.”
Linda Evangelista’s breast cancer diagnosis again
But just a few years later, in July 2022, she felt a lump in her chest again. Faced with the second diagnosis, she says she instructed her oncologist to “dig a hole” in her chest. “I don’t want it to look pretty. I want you to dig it up. I want to see a hole in my chest when you’re done. Do you understand me? I’m not dying from it,” recalls the now 58-year-old the conversation back then.
In the meantime, her prognosis would look “good”, but unfortunately not “great”. You have to live with a relatively high risk of the disease returning in the future. “I know I have one foot in the grave, but I’m in a celebratory mood,” Evangelista revealed at the prospect, adding, “I’m so lucky to be alive. All that comes now is a Bonus.”
She kept her cancer private
The ex-supermodel has only just gone public with his tale of woe: “I kept it a secret, only a handful of people knew.” Evangelista chose this very private path because she is not “one of those people who have to share everything”. “I figured I’d share this with you guys one day, but while I’m going through it, absolutely not.” That time has now clearly come.
Linda Evangelista had retired from public life in recent years after a failed beauty treatment, but returned to the catwalk for New York Fashion Week in 2022. At that time she ran for Fendi. Just a few weeks ago, Evangelista posed with her former supermodel colleagues Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington (54) for the September cover of “Vogue”.