Linda Evangelista Shares Sweet Photos of Son Augustin as He Turns 16: 'My Heart, My Light'

linda evangelista/Instagram

Linda Evangelista is mom to a 16-year-old!

On Tuesday, the fashion icon, 57, celebrated son Augustin James' birthday with a sentimental carousel on Instagram.

Her first photo was a snap of her and Augustin leaning into one another as she sweetly rested her hand on his face. She also included an adorable throwback of Augustin with food on his face as well as a photo of him sporting a fedora in the park. Evangelista rounded out the set with an old photo of them smiling together for a mirror selfie.

"My heart. My light. 16," she wrote alongside the images.

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In the comments section, Augustin received birthday wishes from Evangelista's fellow supermodels and style icons.

"Happy birthday to your handsome boy ❤️👏❤️👏❤️," Helena Christensen wrote as fashion designer Marc Jacobs added, "Happy Birthday Auggie ❤️."

Kara Young also commented, "Bless. Him. Beautiful like Mommy," while January Jones wrote, "❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ happy birth day momma."

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Evangelista rarely shares photos of Augustin on social media. Before his birthday, she shared an old photo of him on the beach for National Son Day in September 2021, calling him the "light of my life."

The style star recently returned to the spotlight herself. She spent almost five years in hiding after allegedly suffering CoolSculpting damage that she claimed left her "permanently deformed" and "brutally disfigured."

In June 2016, Evangelista's doctor diagnosed her with  Paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a rare side effect that affects less than 1 percent of CoolSculpting patients, where the freezing process causes the affected fatty tissue to thicken and expand.

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In February, she told PEOPLE why she waited to tell Augustin about the fat-freezing trauma.

"I should not be a burden to my child," she said at the time. "He shouldn't have to be supporting me. That's not his job."

Instead, she suffered privately in near seclusion. "No one sees me," she said, adding that for a long time she would only leave her New York City home for school events with Augie (whose father is Francois-Henri Pinault) or to walk her dog.

"[Augie] used to say, 'Mommy, do you remember when you used to be fun?' " Evangelista said. "'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."

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She added that while she's always instilled in her son that outward appearances do not equate to real beauty, she couldn't seem to accept that lesson when it came to taking inventory of her own self-worth.

"It is very important for me to raise him knowing that he is beautiful and knowing that everyone is beautiful," she said, adding through tears, "It's so messed up that I truly believe that except it doesn't pertain to me."

"I told [Augie] he might be hearing some things, and he said he didn't care, that he's there for me," she said.

In July, she announced that she "settled the CoolSculpting case" and was looking forward to the "next chapter of my life."