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Linda Evangelista covers British Vogue after CoolSculpting procedure: 'Miss my work so much'

Linda Evangelista opened up about a breast cancer diagnosis for the first time.

Linda Evangelista is reclaiming her cover girl status.

Appearing on the cover of British Vogue's September issue, Evangelista opened up about getting back into modeling following a CoolSculpting procedure that allegedly left her "brutally disfigured."

"I miss my work so much, but honestly, what can I do? It isn’t going to be easy," Evangelista told the fashion outlet in an interview published Thursday. "You’re not going to see me in a swimsuit, that’s for sure. 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."

For the photoshoot, Evangelista received a glam assist from makeup artist Pat McGrath, who "gently drew her face, jaw and neck back with tape and elastics."

"That’s not my jaw and neck in real life," Evangelista said. "And I can’t walk around with tape and elastics everywhere."

Evangelista underwent CoolSculpting, an FDA-approved fat reduction process that uses "freezing temperatures to break down fat cells," according to Medical News Today. During the process, skin is vacuumed into a device that cools the fat cells.

"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," Evangelista explained. "It was about stubborn fat in areas that wouldn’t budge. It said no downtime, no surgery and…I drank the magic potion."

However, the cosmetic procedure "backfired" on the supermodel icon, with Evangelista revealing in a September Instagram post that she developed Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, which according to a 2014 medical journal case report, is an adverse reaction to CoolScultping that results in the cells growing in the treated area.

Evangelista detailed the lengths she went to to remedy the damage done to her body, including two liposuction procedures and even starving herself. "I was losing my mind," she told British Vogue.

"I have incisions all over my body. I have had stitches, I have worn compression garments under my chin, I’ve had my entire body tightly girdled for eight weeks – nothing helped," Evangelista said. "I was so embarrassed, I’d just spent all this money and the only way I could think of to fix it was zero calories, and so I just drank water. Or sometimes I would have a stick of celery or one apple."

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Despite settling a $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq Aesthetics, the company which administered her the CoolSculpting procedure, Evangelista said she’s far from "cured" of the mental health impact of the ordeal. But getting in front of the camera provides a cathartic escape.

"You know what, I’m trying to love myself as I am, but for the photos…" Evangelista said. "For photos, I always think we’re here to create fantasies. We’re creating dreams. I think it’s allowed. Also, all my insecurities are taken care of in these pictures, so I got to do what I love to do."

Background: Linda Evangelista says she was 'brutally disfigured' after CoolSculpting. What is it?

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Contributing: Elise Brisco

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Linda Evangelista covers British Vogue after CoolSculpting procedure