Rhythm and blues singer John Legend is coming to the defense of his wife, Chrissy Teigen, following allegations by fashion designer Michael Costello that Teigen sent him bullying messages in 2014. Legend said that Costello fabricated the screenshots of a direct message exchange between him and the 35-year-old model. Developments continue to play out in this story, with Teigen announcing over the Father’s Day weekend that she’s stepping away from her cleaning supplies company, Safely, that she launched with Kris Jenner, so she may take time to focus on herself and be with family.
“Chrissy apologized for her public tweets, but after her apology, Mr. Costello fabricated a DM exchange between them,” Legend tweeted on Friday, June 18. “This exchange was made up, completely fake, never happened.”
Legend also tweeted, “Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would fake DMs to insert themselves in this narrative, but that’s what happened. I encourage everyone who breathlessly spread this lie to keep that same energy when they correct the record.”
In a now-deleted lengthy Instagram post, Costello shared on Monday, June 14, that Teigen’s allegedly bullying him online resulted in the designer being “depressed” and having “thoughts of suicide.”
Costello noted that his initial interaction with Teigen followed from what he said is a comment edited through Photoshop alleging that he used a racial slur. Costello said the image was a fake.
In other screenshots that Costello shared on Instagram, there was supposedly a reply from Teigen refusing to call Costello. She allegedly wrote, “Racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead. Your career is over; just watch.”
His claims come after Teigen issued an apology on Medium for her controversial tweets in the past.
“I was a troll, full stop,” she wrote. “And I am so sorry.”
“I won’t ask for your forgiveness, only your patience, and tolerance,” Teigen also wrote. “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.”
Costello’s representative sent a statement to E! News on Friday, noting that reported attempts by Teigen’s team to prove the direct messages between her and Costello are fake further proves that “she remains the same bully, despite her public apology.”
A statement posted to Teigen’s Instagram and Twitter pages addressed Costello’s allegations. “Chrissy is completely surprised and disappointed by Michael Costello’s recent attack, which includes fictional ‘screenshots’ from 2014 of supposed private messages that Chrissy did not send,” the statement read in part.
The statement from Teigen followed a post by the mother of two. “No idea what the f– Michael Costello is doing,” Teigen’s caption reads.
“He just released a statement where he didn’t at ALL acknowledge how fake the dm’s were, & now claims to have emails that don’t exist. So while he conjures those up (hopefully with someone more talented in fakes this time), here,” she also wrote.
Costello responded to Teigen’s statement, writing, “God bless. Also, I wish John & Chrissy nothing but peace and happiness after all this.”
Fans applauded Legend for defending his wife amid the controversy.
“That’s his wife, and he gon stick beside her!😎.”
“❗️❗️❗️ Defend your wife, sir 💪🏽.”
“Yeah, John said don’t play with her, please, and thank you.”
“Take up for your WIFE energy.”
