The fashion icon who earned 10 thousand a day is now anxious and depressed

Linda Evangelista has been considered one of the most recognizable names in world fashion for decades, and she was born on May 10, 1965, in the Canadian city of St. Catherine, to a family of Italian immigrants.

She showed an interest in fashion as a teenager, and took her first steps in modeling at the age of 16, when she participated in the Miss Teen Niagara pageant. There, she was spotted by a fashion agent, which soon opened the door to a professional career for her.

More serious engagements came after moving to New York and Paris during the 1980s, but the turning point came at the end of that decade when she drastically changed her image and cut her long hair into a bob.

This move was almost revolutionary at the time in the fashion industry, which still cherished classical standards of beauty, and it launched her among the most sought-after models in the world. Photographer Steven Meisel often pointed out that this transformation marked the beginning of a new era of supermodels.

During the 1990s, Evangelista became synonymous with high fashion. She walked for the runways of the most famous designers such as Chanel, Versace, Valentino and Dolce & Gabbana, and together with Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, she was part of the generation that turned models into global stars.

Her statement that she "wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10.000 a day" became a symbol of a time when supermodels had the status of public icons.

Known for her ability to transform, she frequently changed her appearance, hairstyles, and style, making her one of the most versatile models in fashion history. She appeared on more than 700 fashion magazine covers, and her editorials are still considered influential in the world of photography today.

However, behind the glamour, there have been stories for years about her perfectionism and demanding character, while some described her as difficult to work with, and others as an extremely professional person who pushed the standards.

Her private life was also under the watchful eye of the public. She was in a relationship with French footballer Fabien Barthez, and there was long speculation about the father of her son Augustin, which was later legally confirmed to be French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, now the husband of actress Salma Hayek.

Although she was considered a symbol of perfect beauty for decades, in recent years she has spoken openly about the health problems that have changed her life. In 2021, she revealed that after a cosmetic procedure to freeze fat cells, she developed a rare side effect known as paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, which caused her fat tissue to increase instead of the expected decrease. After that, she withdrew from the public eye and avoided appearances for a long time.

In emotional confessions, she admitted that she had developed depression and anxiety, and that she had gone through a period of isolation and loss of self-confidence, because her identity had been tied to her physical appearance for years. She described her return to public life as a difficult but necessary step after a long period of withdrawal.