Featured On Over 700 Magazine Covers, Supermodel Reveals Sad News
Supermodel Linda Evangelista has been keeping a secret, but now, she’s ready to share the private details with the world. The shocking news that Evangelista has kept to herself and a few people close to her is that she has been diagnosed with and battled breast cancer twice in the past five years.
In an interview that appears in WSJ. Magazine’s Fall Men’s Style issue, Evangelista, who is currently 58 years old, shared that she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018. She explained, “It was detected in my annual mammogram.” She added, “The margins were not good, and due to other health factors, without hesitation, because I wanted to put everything behind me and not to have to deal with this, I opted for a bilateral mastectomy. Thinking I was good and set for life. Breast cancer was not going to kill me.”
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Unfortunately, in 2022, Evangelista found out that her breast cancer had returned. This time, she went to the doctor after feeling a lump on her breast. After receiving her second breast cancer diagnosis, she told her oncologist, “Dig a hole in my chest. I don’t want it to look pretty. I want you to excavate. I want to see a hole in my chest when you’re done. Do you understand me? I’m not dying from this.”
In theory, Evangelista has beat cancer, but she knows there’s still a chance it could come back. Her doctor told her, “Once it’s come back, there’s a chance.”
Evangelista is choosing to stay positive. She explained, “I know I have one foot in the grave, but I’m totally in celebration mode.” She added, “I’ve come through some horrible health issues. I’m at a place where I’m so happy celebrating my book, my life. I’m so happy to be alive. Anything that comes now is bonus.”
As for why Evangelista kept her battle with breast cancer quiet for the past five years, she explained, “I thought to myself, I will share this one day but while I am going through it, absolutely not. I don’t want the Daily Mail waiting outside my door like they do every time something happens. ‘Linda seen for the first time since blah blah blah.’ ”
Evangelista’s new book is called “Linda Evangelista Photographed by Steven Meisel.” She has decided to donate proceeds from the book to breast cancer research.
Does it surprise you that Evangelista was able to keep her breast cancer battle a secret for five years?
