John Legend defended wife Chrissy Teigen this week after designer Michael Costello leveled cyberbullying allegations at her.
Legend responded to the accusations against his wife in a Twitter thread, stating that Costello, a Project Runway veteran, had “fabricated” a series of Instagram messages dating back to 2014 that had been used as the basis for his claims.
“This exchange was made up, completely fake, never happened,” Legend wrote. He also included a link to an Insider article published Thursday in which one of Teigen’s representatives dismissed the purported exchange between her and Costello as “fake.”
Chrissy apologized for her public tweets, but after her apology, Mr Costello fabricated a DM exchange between them. This exchange was made up, completely fake, never happened. Receipts below: https://t.co/Toh2rjTXNS
— John Legend (@johnlegend) June 18, 2021
Insider’s article noted the presence of Instagram design and video features in the screenshots Costello had presented that did not fit the timeline of his claims.
“The screenshots appear to be manipulated,” the article notes.
Moments later, Legend continued:
Honestly I don’t know why anyone would fake DMs to insert themselves in this narrative, but that’s what happened.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) June 18, 2021
I encourage everyone who breathlessly spread this lie to keep that same energy when they correct the record
— John Legend (@johnlegend) June 18, 2021
Later on Friday, Teigen followed up with a lengthy statement of her own.
“Chrissy has acknowledged her past behavior and the pain she has caused, but she will not stand for anyone spreading false accusations to further demean her name and reputation,” the statement read. “Chrissy will continue to do the work she needs to do to be the best person she can be. She hopes Michael Costello can do the same.”
No idea what the fuck michael costello is doing. 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: pic.twitter.com/Y9FjJAY3Xw
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) June 18, 2021
Costello’s Instagram account was set to private as of Friday afternoon. A representative for the designer did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Teigen began facing backlash last month when Courtney Stodden accused her of bullying them online. In an interview with The Daily Beast, the nonbinary reality star referenced Teigen’s tweets in 2011 telling the then-16-year-old to kill themself.
On Monday, Teigen apologised to Stodden for the second time with a Medium blog post in which she deemed herself a “troll.”
“There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets,” she wrote. “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.”
About a day after the post was published, Costello came forward with his claims, suggested he’d had “thoughts of suicide” after Teigen accused him of racism on social media and, later, blacklisted him in the fashion industry.
“I didn’t see the point of living,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “There was no way I can ever escape from being the target of the powerful elites in Hollywood.”
Later on Tuesday, singer Leona Lewis chimed in, claiming that Costello had made her feel “embarrassed and deeply hurt” at a 2014 fashion show when his team refused to alter a dress to her size. Costello responded with an apology, noting he was “completely blindsided” by the Grammy nominee’s claims.
