It’s safe to say that we won’t be finding Linda Evangelista on any dating apps anytime soon. In a new interview with The Sunday Times, the Canadian supermodel admitted she’s “not interested” in being with someone and expressed her very relatable hang-ups with dating.
“I don’t want to sleep with anybody anymore,” she told the outlet. “I don’t want to hear somebody breathing.”
Evangelista, 58, disclosed that she hasn’t tried dating in a long time. When asked when her last date was, she responded that it was “definitely before the Cool-Sculpting,” referring to the fat reduction procedure she claimed left her “permanently deformed” and brutally disfigured” in a 2016 lawsuit against the company.
In the same interview, the ’90s icon opened up about how she’s come to overcome the insecurities she went through after the procedure’s complications.
“I don’t blame myself any more. I’m not hard on myself any longer,” she said. “How people feel about me still bothers me a little bit, but it used to bother me a lot.”
She explained that feelings still linger, but, for the most part, she doesn’t carry the same burden she once did.
“I know now that I didn’t do anything wrong,” she continued. “For the longest time, I thought I did. I’m not completely rid of it, but I work hard at getting rid of the guilt and the shame. And I’m not letting it ruin my life. I wouldn’t have stayed locked up if I’d known how many people cared.”
Evangelista first went public with her negative experience with Cool-Sculpting in 2021 after a few years in hiding and sued the company for $50 million (USD) for loss of income and emotional distress. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.
Evangelista was briefly engaged to actor Kyle MacLachlan before she married Gérald Marie, the former head of Elite Model Management. In 1987, when she was just 22 and he was 37, the two tied the knot before divorcing in 1993.
In the Apple TV+ docuseries The Super Models, Evangelista alleged that her ex-husband abused her during their marriage. After Marie was accused of sexual misconduct and rape by over a dozen women in 2020, she admitted she felt empowered to speak out about her own experiences.
She told The Sunday Times that she didn’t tell anyone about it at the time as she was “afraid” and didn’t know if anyone else knew. She revealed she spent the money she earned from her prolific modelling career “getting out” of the marriage.
Evangelista also shares a 17-year-old son, Augie, with billionaire businessman François-Henri Pinault, with whom she had a brief fling. Since then, the mother has praised co-parenting with Pinault’s wife, actress Salma Hayek.
