After many of Chrissy Teigen’s damaging DMs and tweets were exposed, she has since
issued a statement taking full accountability for her past actions, which has now prompted
even more victims to come forward with their own harrowing experiences.
Brace yourselves guys, because we’ve got A LOT to unpack here… but before I get into
the story, I just wanted to issue a trigger warning as we will be covering heavy topics
including suicidal ideations, so please only continue watching should you feel doing so.
Just last month, Chrissy Teigen came under fire after reality star Courtney Stodden revealed
during an interview with the Daily Beast that they were verbally harassed by Chrissy and
that she would repeatedly send Courtney messages urging them to take their own life.
Shortly after the interview was published, many of Chrissy’s tweets resurfaced and
confirmed every claim made by Courtney, to which they even revealed that Chrissy never
QUOTE “sought to apologize or send any kind of love my way.”
Chrissy eventually issued a public apology claiming that she tried to apologize privately,
and in turn, Courtney posted a screenshot of their Twitter account still blocked by
Chrissy despite accepting her apology.
This backlash even caused brands like Macy’s and Target to distance themselves from Chrissy’s
products which include her Cravings by Chrissy Teigen cookware line.
And now, over a month after Courtney and Chrissy’s exchange, Chrissy has issued yet another lengthy
apology via Medium, taking full accountability for her past actions.
Chrissy reflected on her damaging words, saying QUOTE, “As I look at them and understand
the hurt they caused, I have to stop and wonder: How could I have done that?”
She added, “There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets.
My targets didn't deserve them.
No one does.
Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding, and support, not my meanness masquerading
as a kind of casual, edgy humor.
I was a troll, full stop.
And I am so sorry.”
Chrissy’s response resulted in mixed reactions from present and former fans, who, on one
hand, commended her for taking accountability, but on the other, felt as though she made
her apology about her.
Her response also prompted many other victims of her past verbal abuse to come forward and
share their stories of how deeply they were affected by her words.
Teen Mom alumn Farrah Abraham issued her own statement via Medium, comparing her past actions
to a “Mean Girls movie spin-off”, while echoing similar sentiment to fans about wrapping
up her apology with a message that involves herself.
Farrah wrote, “As you're asking yourself 'Did Chrissy ever apologize to Farrah?'
hypocritically as such at this time no she has not.
As a reminder Chrissy ended her light hearted post, so similarly as her past remarks with
taking care of her family and herself.
So I understand the time it will take to really be beyond her past behavior.”
But it was fashion designer and Project Runway star Michael Costello, who’s statement went
viral and immediately began trending after fans learned that because of Chrissy’s past
bullying and death threats toward him, he spent years depressed while contemplating
taking his own life.
Michael took to social media on Monday, hesitant on even sharing his story until now, writing
QUOTE, “For the past 7 years, I’ve lived with a deep, unhealed trauma.
In 2014, I received a public comment from Chrissy Teigen on my Instagram page, accusing
me of being racist.
She apparently formed her own opinion of me based on a Photoshopped comment floating around
the internet which has now been proven to be false by Instagram and since taken down.”
Michael attempted to reach out to Chrissy and even provided screenshots of their DM
conversation to which she told him his career was over and that he, too, “might as well
be dead.”
Over the years, he recalled being pulled from certain jobs without any explanation as Chrissy
and fellow stylist Monica Rose would threaten brands until they disassociated themselves
with Michael entirely.
(file: Monica Rose GettyImages-623135234.jpg)
This messy situation also led to former accusations against Michael for stealing designs from
Black designers in the past, as many fans claim he isn’t entirely innocent himself.
Singer Leona Lewis then came forward with her own claims against Michael, taking to
Instagram on Tuesday as she recalled the time Michael refused to alter his own dress on
her and deeply humiliated her.
Michael is now working overtime doing major damage control as he told TMZ that he has
reached out to Leona to clear things up, and regarding Chrissy, he explained that he does
not wish ill will on anyone, saying QUOTE, “We are all works in progress and we deserve
the opportunity to prove that we can do better.
But progress takes time.
We must show through actions that we have changed.
After all, action speaks much louder than a 10-minute apology written on a notepad.”
We want to make our stance clear that in no way is it ok to urge another person to take
their life or bully someone to the point of them wanting to take their own life.
With that said, we can only hope each person affected by these harmful threats and claims
takes time to heal, discuss, forgive and move on.
To see why fans thought Chrissy insulted Katy Perry’s performance earlier this year, click
right over here for a full recap.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on Chrissy’s apology to the people she hurt
down here in the comments, and if you think she’ll be able to come back from something
like this.
I’m your host Ashley Mova, bye guys!