Linda Evangelista didn't want to "be a burden" to her son with her fat-freezing trauma.
Linda Evangelista wants her son to know that everyone is 'beautiful'
The 56-year-old fashion icon - who is suing CoolSculpt, the manufacturer of a fat-freezing procedure for $50 million in damages after she was allegedly left "brutally disfigured" due to a rare side effect - insisted it shouldn't be up to her 15-year-old boy to "support" her.
Explaining why she waited so long to open up, she told PEOPLE magazine: "I should not be a burden to my child.
"He shouldn't have to be supporting me. That's not his job."
Linda - who would rarely leave her house after the ordeal - admitted she loathes what impact hiding her pain has had on their relationship.
She added: "[Augie] used to say, 'Mommy, do you remember when you used to be fun?' Remember when you used to laugh all the time? How come you don't laugh anymore?' I hate what this has done to my relationship with him.”
Linda is still keen to teach Augie - whose father is 59-year-old businessman Francois-Henri Pinault - that “he is beautiful” as is everyone else.
Linda said: "It is very important for me to raise him knowing that he is beautiful and knowing that everyone is beautiful. It's so messed up that I truly believe that except it doesn't pertain to me."
She shared her burns for the first time in November last year, and after going public with her condition - named paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) - she warned her son about things he might hear from other people.
She revealed: "I told [Augie] he might be hearing some things, and he said he didn't care, that he's there for me.”
CoolSculpting - the brand name for cryolipolysis, which uses cold temperatures to reduce fat deposits - is also known as body contouring, and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the company said the procedure "has been well studied with more than 100 scientific publications and more than 11 million treatments performed worldwide".
They added that rare side effects - such as PAH - "continue to be well-documented in the CoolSculpting information for patients and health care providers".
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