Chrissy Teigen has been known as somewhat of a clapback queen in life and on Twitter. She frequently and freely gives her opinion on everyone, whether that be Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro or Matthew Perry’s Raya match coming forward. But the popular funny gal host of Lip Sync Battle is facing mounting accusations of past cyberbullying. In the aftermath of the allegations, Teigen has had to continue her public apology tour and, to add to the mess, other celebrities are weighing in with their opinions as well.
Initially, reality star Courtney Stodden accused Chrissy Teigen earlier this year of bullying her when she was only 16 years old. She claims Teigen would send her DMs insinuating that she should kill herself. Following the backlash for it – which reportedly got her cookware line removed from shelves and had her recently pulling out of a Netflix role – Teigen apologized for the behavior on Twitter. But now, Project Runway’s Michael Costello is coming forward with his own “traumatic” experience about allegedly being bullied by Teigen on social media. The new wave of accusations prompted yet another apology from the former model, as well as the perspective of many others.
What Chrissy Teigen Said In Her Apology
In Michael Costello’s account of events on Instagram, Chrissy Teigen labeled him as a racist (due to a false rumor circulating about him) and made efforts to blackball his career in the fashion industry. Per his screengrab receipts of their exchange, Teigen also said he deserved “to suffer and die.” Since then, Costello stated that his career has suffered and that he has even felt suicidal.
Many online sympathized with Michael Costello’s struggles, prompting a renewed backlash against Chrissy Teigen. The Lip Sync Battle host responded with her second public apology this year. In the lengthy Medium post, Teigen didn’t specifically address Costello but said she was “ashamed” and “a troll, full stop” at that time. She would also write:
In reality, I was insecure, immature and in a world where I thought I needed to impress strangers to be accepted. If there was a pop culture pile-on, I took to Twitter to try to gain attention and show off what I at the time believed was a crude, clever, harmless quip. I thought it made me cool and relatable if I poked fun at celebrities. Now, confronted with some of the things that I said, I cringe to my core. I’ll honestly get sharp, stabbing pains in my body, randomly remembering my asshole past, and I deserve it. Words have consequences and there are real people behind the Twitter handles I went after. I wasn’t just attacking some random avatar, but hurting young women — some who were still girls — who had feelings. How could I not stop and think of that? Why did I think there was some invisible psycho-celebrity formula that prevents anyone with more followers from experiencing pain? How did I not realize my words were cruel? What gave me the right to say these things?
Gretchen Rossi And Farrah Abraham Called Chrissy Teigen Out After Her Apology
Chrissy Teigen’s apology tour didn’t stop with her there, however. The situation has attracted the opinions of several other celebrities. Some of whom have rallied to support Michael Costello and condemn Teigen. In Costello’s original post, which has now disabled comments, ex-Real Housewives of Orange County star Gretchen Rossi commented (via Page Six):
So disgraceful. I’m so proud of you for speaking up and sharing your truth about what happened my sweet friend. This disgusting person has shown over and over again who she is and what she is capable of. No one should ever say the things she said to you or the many others she has been so cruel to. You are so loved and supported!
Farrah Abraham, of Teen Mom fame, was another reality star who also weighed in on Chrissy Teigen’s apology for cyberbullying. Apparently, in a 2013 tweet, Teigen allegedly called Abraham a “whore” and said “everyone hates you.” In her own Medium post about the mess, Abraham claims she never got a direct apology from Teigen and doesn’t really require one. However, she thinks Teigen likely owes one to her child, who had to “witness the aftermath of remarks.” She also reflected on the nature of Teigen’s blanket apology, saying:
Chrissy Teigan’s apology on this platform ‘Medium’ said through the hate behavior and nice behavior whiplash of mood behavior described by her,was used to get clout, notoriety, build a following to get famous, be with possibly the person she wanted to be with, the friend group she wanted to fit in with, get the fashion, style angle of public persona rather than only being discovered through her husbands music video, and act nice to friends she made in real life who believed in being above essential celebrities, gossiping complete immature lies and hate publicly that their friends supported loudly on social media and privately. It was very much a ‘Mean Girls’ movie spin-off of a ‘wish I could use vulnerable, nice, famous types with more following with press push leverage, to be more popular’ kind of spiral out that would come sooner or later like in the movie.
What Leona Lewis Said After Michael Costello Called Out Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen did have one celebrity to enter the fray in her defense: The X Factor winner Leona Lewis. Following Michael Costello’s accusations, the “Bleeding Love” singer revealed on her Instagram stories (via EW) a time in 2014 when Costello abandoned one of her dressing fittings in favor of a charity event, making her feel as though she “wasn’t the body type required.” She said she was “humiliated” and suffered “personally and professionally” for appearing to not have followed through with an engagement. The singer also wrote:
I'm not discounting [Costello's] experience as that is an awful thing to go through and I wish him so much love and healing. I'm sure this will come as a shock as I never told him how this made me feel. But the pot calling the kettle black in this situation doesn't sit right with me. Bullying comes in many different forms. We need love, we need accountability, we need forgiveness, none of us are perfect.
In response to Leona Lewis’ apparent defense of Chrissy Teigen, Michael Costello told Page Six that he didn’t understand where it came from because Lewis has requested his clothes frequently over the years and that the claims were “bizarre.” However, he has since apologized to Lewis via social media for what took place.
The situation is definitely snowballing into messy territory. Sides are forming and old wounds are being re-opened from every side and angle. We'll see how things progress, as Chrissy Teigen is reportedly angling to do a Meghan Markle-inspired Oprah interview.
