Linda Evangelista, the supermodel made famous in the 1990s, said she had become “brutally disfigured” and “unrecognizable” after a cosmetic body-sculpting procedure that had turned her into a recluse.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, she referred to filing a lawsuit, saying that she was taking “a big step towards righting a wrong that I have suffered and have kept to myself for over five years.”

She added: “To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving,