Chrissy Teigen has been the subject of controversy over the past several years, as she faced allegations of intense bullying. Fashion designer Michael Costello revealed that he suffered from “unhealed trauma” following years of mistreatment from Teigen. At the time, conservative commentator Megyn Kelly weighed in on the matter, slamming the “queen of cancellation” for her conduct.
In 2021, Costello came forward with his account of how Teigen treated him personally and professionally. Reportedly, Teigen worked extensively to derail the fashion designer’s career over a misunderstanding on social media that turned out to be a fabricated photo painting him as a racist.
The impact of the controversy was so traumatizing for Costello, that he debated not even brining it forward. “I didn’t share this with anyone because I was living in fear. In fear of losing some of my most profitable brand relationships; in fear of losing friends and allies; and in fear of being outcasted even more by the power elites who run the industry,” Costello said.
Costello explained that he attempted to explain to Teigen that the photo was faked, but she would not reason with him. He continued, “When I reached out to Chrissy Teigen to communicate that I was the victim of a vindictive cyber slander, and that everything she thought I was is not who I am, she told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on.”
According to reports, Teigen insisted that Costello’s career was “over” telling him to “just watch” while adding that “racist people deserve to suffer and die.” Continuing to illustrate how he desperately attempted to explain the situation to Teiger and her stylist Monica Rose, he said, “each time I have pleaded with Chrissy Teigen or Monica Rose to see the whole story before believing a false narrative a former disgruntled employee cast upon me, they didn’t give me the time of day.”
“And wow, did she live up to her words,” Costello recounted. “Throughout the next few years, I would book jobs only to be pulled off last minute with no explanation. I would regularly get texts and calls from our mutual friends and colleagues that her and Monica Rose, a powerful stylist in fashion, have gone out of their way to threaten people and brands that if they were in any shape or form associated with me, they would not work with any of them.”
Reportedly, Costello was even driven to the point of suicidal ideation, stating, “So many nights I stayed awake, wanting to kill myself. I didn’t see the point of living. There was no way I can ever escape from being the target of the powerful elites in Hollywood, who actually do have powers to close doors with a single text. Not only was I the target of cyber defamation, I was also getting outcasted in real life.”
Weighing in on the controversy, Megyn Kelly rebuked Teigen’s alleged behavior, writing on X, “The Queen of Cancellation Chrissy Tiegen sure liked telling young ppl to go kill themselves. What a toxic, cruel bully.” Another person commented under Kelly’s post, “The sad reality is she apologized because she got caught, not because she was sorry. What’s even more sad is she had to make a public general apology because there were so many victims she hurt & unsure of all. She should consider herself fortunate no one was lost to suicide.”
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Megyn_Kelly_(53067676415).jpg
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