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John Legend is sticking by his wife Chrissy Teigen amid a bullying scandal with Project Runway’s Michael Costello and doubling down on the idea that Costello ‘fabricated’ DM’s to make her look bad.
The 42-year-old EGOT winner took to Twitter to defend Chrissy calling the purported direct messages ‘made up, completely fake’ and questioning why someone would ‘insert themselves’ in the current bullying backlash that the model is facing.
Meanwhile, in a lengthy statement on Friday, Michael Costello accused Chrissy of ‘victim-blaming’ after her team questioned his bullying allegations and the authenticity of those problematic DMs.
In it together: John Legend is sticking by his wife Chrissy Teigen amid a bullying scandal with Project Runway’s Michael Costello and doubling down on the idea that Costello ‘fabricated’ DM’s to make her look bad
‘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,’ Legend wrote Friday on Twitter.
He then linked to a Business Insider article that claimed to ‘debunk’ the messages as fakes writing ‘Receipts below.’
John’s defense of his wife of eight years penning two subsequent Tweets: ‘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.’
Sticking up for Chrissy: The 42-year-old EGOT winner took to Twitter to defend Chrissy calling the purported direct messages ‘made up, completely fake’ and questioning why someone would ‘insert themselves’ in the current bullying backlash that the model is facing
That same day Costello released a lengthy statement saying that Teigen ‘remains the same bully, despite her public apology’ after she ‘desperately’ tried to disprove the authenticity of damning direct messages purportedly sent by the model.
Reps for Chrissy Teigen on Thursday said that a series of Instagram messages the Project Runway alum posted online were fakes, however, Costello remains firm that they’re the real deal.
‘The fact that Chrissy Teigen’s team is desperately trying to prove the DM’s are fake and attempts to discredit Michael Costello, a victim of trauma and bullying by Chrissy Teigen both online and offline, confirms that she remains the same bully, despite her public apology,’ his team said in a statement.
‘When a victim feels like their only recourse is to speak up, and the abuser’s first move is to discredit the victim and shame him publicly, this perpetrates victim-blaming and it costs lives,’ it continued.
Hitting back: Meanwhile, in a lengthy statement on Friday, Michael Costello accused Chrissy of ‘victim-blaming’ after her team questioned his bullying allegations and the authenticity of those problematic DMs
‘Seven years ago, when Michael Costello presented Chrissy Teigen with evidence directly that the alleged racist comment she saw was fake, she refused to believe him,’ they said. ‘Now, her team is quick to discredit Michael’s character in an attempt to salvage her image and partnerships negatively impacted by her decade-long problematic behavior.’
Costello’s camp claims to have unreleased emails and documents they say ‘confirm’ that Teigen took her bad behavior out into the real world, beyond social media, and actively smeared him ‘mentally and financially.’
Teigen, they said, hasn’t reached out to Costello or his camp personally.
On Thursday, her rep told Business Insider that the DMs – which the fashion designer said Teigen sent him in 2014 – had aesthetic inconsistencies with the timeframe of the alleged communications.
Costello took to Instagram Monday saying that Teigen – based on a faulty belief that he had posted racist messages online – torpedoed his fashion career and left him with suicidal ideations, after taunting him in DMs.
‘Seven years ago, when Michael Costello presented Chrissy Teigen with evidence directly that the alleged racist comment she saw was fake, she refused to believe him,’ they said. ‘Now, her team is quick to discredit Michael’s character in an attempt to salvage her image and partnerships negatively impacted by her decade-long problematic behavior.’
Another conflicting feature was an icon for video chat, a feature that hadn’t been put on the platform until June of 2018, according to Business Insider, next to a profile photo that Teigen had changed at lease two years earlier.
Costello said that Teigen tormented him as tried to explain to her at the time to no avail. He took to social media after Teigen publicly addressed her ongoing bullying scandal, apologizing in a Medium post on Monday morning in which she admitted to being a ‘troll’ and an ‘a**hole’ while insisting that she is ‘no longer that person.’
Costello wrote on Monday, ‘For the past 7 years, I’ve lived with a deep, unhealed trauma.’
Teigen ‘apparently formed her own opinion of me based on a Photoshopped comment floating around the internet which has now been proven to be false by Instagram and since taken down,’ he wrote.
Accusations: Costello’s camp claims to have unreleased emails and documents they say ‘confirm’ that Teigen took her bad behavior out into the real world, beyond social media, and actively smeared him ‘mentally and financially.’
Costello, who shared texts illustrating the situation, said the model and cookbook author ‘told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on,’ and took action to see to such.
He said that both Teigen and her stylist Monica Rose had went ‘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.’
Costello said that his efforts to plead his case to Teigen and Rose were for naught.
He said that in trying to get them ‘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.’
On Thursday, her rep told Business Insider that the DMs – which the fashion designer said Teigen sent him in 2014 – had aesthetic inconsistencies with the timeframe of the alleged communications.
In the wake of the exchange, Costello said that he ‘didn’t see the point of living’ with his career in disarray.
‘There was no way I can ever escape from being the target of the powerful elites in Hollywood.’
Costello said he is ‘not okay,’ adding, ‘I may never be okay, but today, I am choosing to speak my truth.’
Costello captioned the post urging his followers not to respond with vitriol toward Teigen and Rose, stressing that it was his own personal process to move forward.
Backstory: Costello said that Teigen tormented him amid a misunderstanding that he had used a racial slur online, which he denied, and tried to explain to her at the time to no avail
‘You do not have to say anything mean or hurtful about them in the comments I am trying every day to love myself and forget this,’ he said. ‘This is step 1.’
The designer received supportive words from April Love Geary, Olivia Culpo, Audrina Patridge and LeAnn Rimes among others amid his public revelation.
He later told TMZ that he doesn’t wish ‘ill’ on Teigen, saying: ‘We are all works in progress and we deserve the opportunity to prove that we can do better.’
‘But progress takes time. We must show through actions that we have changed. After all, action speaks much louder than a 10-minute apology written on a notepad.’
Speaking out: Costello added a detailed message about the situation involving the model and her stylist
Costello’s post comes as Teigen has come under fire in recent weeks for cruel posts on Twitter aimed at Stodden, Lindsay Lohan, Quvenzhané Wallis, and others.
Amid the backlash, Teigen has been dropped by several companies, including Safely, the cleaning brand she founded with Kris Jenner; Macy’s; Target; and Bloomingdale’s.
The large retailers have removed her line of Cravings cookware from its shelves. Teigen has also pulled out of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever.
Teigen was slated to be one of the guest narrators for the series, co-created by Mindy Kaling, but is exiting the gig amid the fallout following her cyberbullying scandal.
Backlash: Costello’s post comes as Teigen has come under fire in recent weeks for cruel posts on Twitter aimed at Stodden, Lindsay Lohan, Quvenzhané Wallis, and others
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