Linda Evangelista's unfiltered photo raises awareness for early breast cancer screening

Linda Evangelista urges her supporters to prioritise their well-being.

The 58-year-old model, who received a breast cancer diagnosis in 2018, utilised her social media platform on Friday to advocate for routine tests.

“On behalf of @su2c (Stand Up To Cancer) and during #CancerScreeningWeek, I ask that everyone realize how important it is to schedule an appointment with your doctor to create a cancer screening plan that’s right for you,” she captioned an Instagram post.

“Catching cancer or pre-cancer early can help save lives. #standuptocancer!” she added.

Evangelista shared a selfie in her post, identifying it as an old snapshot from her biopsy and mammography in 2018. Her left breast showed a new scar as she looked directly into the camera.

In September, the model talked candidly about receiving a cancer diagnosis when interviewed for WSJ Magazine's Fall Men's Style issue.

“It was detected in my annual mammogram,” she told the outlet. “The margins were not good, and due to other health factors, without hesitation, because I wanted to put everything behind me and not 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.”

She discovered that the breast cancer had come back a few years later.

“Dig a hole in my chest,” she recalled telling her oncologist after the July 2022 discovery. “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.”

After undergoing therapy, she was informed that, due to her "horrible Oncotype score," which is a measure of the likelihood of cancer recurrence, her prognosis was "good" but not "great."