Linda Evangelista On Dating: ‘I Don't Want to Hear Somebody Breathing’

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | November 27, 2023 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | November 27, 2023 |

Linda Evangelista, the 58-year-old Canadian supermodel, spoke for us all when she recently told The Sunday Times that she’s “not interested” in dating.

“I don’t want to sleep with anybody anymore. I don’t want to hear somebody breathing,” she said.

The last time she dated was “definitely before the Cool-Sculpting” fat reduction procedure that she says left her “permanently deformed and brutally disfigured” in 2016, and resulted in Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, a rare but serious side effect that causes fat cells to increase instead of decrease.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Linda Evangelista (@lindaevangelista)

“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,” she said at the time. “In the process, I have become a recluse.” She sued the company that performed the surgery, with the lawsuit stating that she experienced “economic losses” because she was “rendered unemployable and unable to earn income as a model.”

Long before that, though, she was married to the former head of Elite Model Management Paris, Gérald Marie, from 1987 to 1993. She was 22 when they married, and he was 37.

“I was clueless. Absolutely clueless…there had to be something endearing to fall for,” she said.

Over a dozen women made accusations of sexual misconduct against Marie in 2020, and Evangelista added her name to that list when she appeared in The Super Models earlier this year and alleged that her ex-husband physically abused her while they were married. She said she didn’t tell anyone about the abuse at the time because she was “afraid” and still “doesn’t know” if anyone knew to this day, but she used the money she made modeling to get out of the marriage.

She shares a now 17-year-old son, Augustin James Evangelista, with François-Henri Pinault, whom she sued in 2011 for child support. Pinault is now married to Salma Hayek, and Evangelista has praised her for her co-parenting skills.

So, she’s been through a lot. I wouldn’t want to hear anyone breathing, either.