Model Linda Evangelista is known as a legendary model who was known for owning the fashion runways in the 1990s. However, fans have noticed that the 56-year-old has not been in the public eye in the last few years and there’s a reason for that. Evangelista took to her Instagram earlier this week to explain her disappearance.

Apparently, the 56-year-old model underwent a cosmetic procedure over five years ago that left her “deformed” as Evangelista described it. The model posted a typed up letter explaining everything that she experienced. She captioned the post, “#TheTruth #MyStory.”

“To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured by Zeltiq’s CoolSculpting procedure which did the opposite of what it promised,” she explained.

“It increased, not decreased, my fat cells and left me permanently deformed even after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries. I have been left, as the media has described, ‘unrecognizable,’” the model said.

The CoolSculpting procedure that Evangelista had done uses cold temperatures to reduce fat deposits in areas of the body. A side effect of this non-surgical procedure is paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH).

“PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, it has sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness, and the lowest depths of self-loathing. In the process, I have become a recluse,“ Evangelista further explained.

“I am moving forward to rid myself of my shame, and going public with my story,“ she concluded. I‘m so tired of living this way. I would like to walk out my door with my head held high, despite not looking like myself any longer.”