Chrissy Teigen is ‘truly ashamed’ after telling non-binary model Courtney Stodden to kill themselves
Chrissy Teigen (L) and Courtney Stodden. (Getty Images)
Chrissy Teigen has said she’s “truly ashamed” after she told non-binary model Courtney Stodden to kill themselves.
In May, Teigen found herself at the centre of controversy when Stodden told The Daily Beast about the shocking treatment they endured for being just 16-years-old when they married then-51 year old actor Doug Hutchinson.
Speaking about Chrissy Teigen, Stodden said she “wouldn’t just publicly tweet about me to take a ‘dirt nap’, but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself”.
Teigen has now addressed the controversy in a Medium post, telling fans that she has had “a VERY humbling few weeks”.
“I know I’ve been quiet, and lord knows you don’t want to hear about me, but I want you to know I’ve been sitting in a hole of deserved global punishment, the ultimate ‘sit here and think about what you’ve done’,” Teigen wrote.
“Not a day, not a single moment has passed where I haven’t felt the crushing weight of regret for the things I’ve said in the past.”
Teigen admitted that her resurfaced tweets targeting Stodden were “awful”, adding: “I’m truly ashamed of them. As I look at them and understand the hurt they caused, I have to stop and wonder: How could I have done that?”
She went on to acknowledge that she also made hurtful comments to other people at the time, and said she has been reaching out to apologise to those she wronged on social media.
“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 humour.
“I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.”
Chrissy Teigen admitted she was ‘insecure’ when she targeted Courtney Stodden
She went on to admit that she was “insecure” and “immature” when she first joined social media and felt a need to “impress strangers to be accepted”.
Chrissy Teigen said she thought it would make her “cool and relatable” if she poked fun at celebrities and engaged in “pile-ons”.
“Words have consequences and there are real people behind the Twitter handles I went after,” Teigen wrote.
“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?”
Teigen went on to claim that she “wasn’t mean” in her everyday life, and said people would often tell her she was “so much nicer in person” than on Twitter.
Looking back, she wonders why she didn’t see that as a “red flag”.
Teigen promised to keep working on herself, saying: “I’ve been on a path of self-improvement for the past decade and that path is going to continue.”
Closing out her post, Teigen admitted that it has been “a heavy few weeks” and said she will take more time to focus on her family and to take care of herself before returning to the spotlight.
“We are all more than our worst moments,” she wrote.
“I won’t ask for your forgiveness, only your patience and tolerance. I ask that you allow me, as I promise to allow you, to own past mistakes and be given the opportunity to seek self-improvement and change.”
The post comes just weeks after Teigen apologised to Stodden publicly for her past tweets and messages.
“I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behaviour but that is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel,” she wrote on Twitter in May.
She added: “Since I publicly fuelled all this, I want to also publicly apologise. I’m so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal now knowing how deeply sorry I am.”
Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk).
Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
