Courtney Stodden spoke to the Daily Beast recently, in an interview which was published this week. The interview began trending on Twitter almost as soon as it was published. When I covered it yesterday, I included some of Stodden’s quotes where they were reflecting back on how they were groomed and how they were basically deprogramming themselves. Stodden legitimately seems to be in a better place emotionally and psychologically these days and I’m glad they survived it all. But of course, the big headline was about Stodden revealing that Chrissy Teigen privately DM’d Stodden. Stodden’s quote: “She wouldn’t just publicly tweet about wanting me to take “a dirt nap” but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself. Things like, ‘I can’t wait for you to die.’”
Too many people yesterday wanted to know the context for Teigen’s DMs, like there would be any context to justify a grown woman DMing a teenager and telling them to kill themselves? And if you’re looking for context, the only thing I can show you is all of Chrissy’s tweets from 2011-2012 where she repeatedly and openly harassed Stodden and tweeted vile things. So, with all of that in mind, Chrissy is super-sorry that you see her differently. She waited 24 hours to apologize. I’m not embedding her tweets, but here’s what she said:
Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullsh-t in front of the entire world. I’m mortified and sad at who I used to be. I was an insecure, attention seeking troll. I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior but that is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel. I have worked so hard to give you guys joy and be beloved and the feeling of letting you down is nearly unbearable, truly. These were not my only mistakes and surely won’t be my last as hard as I try but god I will try!!
I have tried to connect with Courtney privately but since I publicly fueled all this, I want to also publicly apologize. I’m so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal now knowing how deeply sorry I am. And I am so sorry I let you guys down. I will forever work on being better than I was 10 years ago, 1 year ago, 6 months ago.
“Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullsh-t in front of the entire world.” Let ME tell you about ME and how hard this moment is for ME. “I was an insecure, attention seeking troll.” Wrong verb tense, Chrissy. Go for the present tense. This sentence is the one which I’m still digesting though: “I have worked so hard to give you guys joy and be beloved and the feeling of letting you down is nearly unbearable, truly.” Does… Chrissy think that she’s beloved? Does she think she’s working hard to put on a Cool Girl persona while being Extremely Online is somehow a thing that makes her beloved? Yiiikes.
Before I saw Stodden’s reaction to Chrissy, I hoped that Stodden wouldn’t care or would just ignore Chrissy completely. The worst case scenario for Chrissy would be if Stodden doesn’t acknowledge her publicly, you know? But no, the actual worst case scenario was for Stodden to say that Teigen still has them blocked on Twitter, and that Teigen never reached out privately. Damn!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
“was” is doing an awful lot of work there.
Exactly.
Right. Not “was”… change the verb to the present tense Chrissy and get a clue.
@ Jules. That was my thought exactly. You “were” an insecure, attention seeking troll”?? I have given up on people like her simply going away.
There’s really something the matter with CT, beyond just craving attention. She has what most people would consider a great life, yet she spends endless energy on internet squabbling. She quits Twitter and immediately returns, as we knew she would. I used to like her because of her Trump/Fox smackdowns, but now she just repulses me.
same here Minx, I used to like her a lot and don’t dislike her now, but the whiffs of mania, substance use, and brutal neediness make me worried.
When I troll I just tell ppl to take up etch a sketch if the internet is too intense & truthy. Can’t imagine trolling someone that hard, particularly a teen. EEEeesssh.
Chrissy needs a crisis PR manager it sounds like.
Her apology is part really good, part total BS. Like this – “I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior but that is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel.”
That’s decent. But then most of the rest of it….like this….”Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullsh-t in front of the entire world”
I mean, yes, I have never made a mistake on a global platform that millions of people saw and then had to apologize for it down the road. But I have also never told anyone on twitter to kill themselves. Like how did Chrissy think that was acceptable 10 years ago?? And apparently she knew it wasn’t that acceptable bc she saved some comments for DMs.
And then she still has Courtney blocked…….whew.
I think the worst is she admitted that she was insecure and attention seeking……so you tell someone to kill themselves? WOW. That is deep. I wonder what values she is instilling in her kids.
Exactly ive been insecure, who hasnt? but most don’t tell people to kill themselves
Right, and when I am insecure, that is usually when I am in my shell and just observing – not going out of my way to be horrid to another human being.
Yes. Normal attention seekers just post lots of pictures of themselves or post ‘deep’ poetry on their social media.
They don’t do this.
It wasn’t just Courtney she was tweeting about either. She also wrote tweets about wanting Sarah Palin to shoot herself in the face, something about Lindsay lohan slitting her wrists. I just don’t understand how any of this was ever acceptable. And for her to quit Twitter earlier this year because of the same stuff she had been doing for years. This is so gross
Referencing 10 years ago is so petty. Courtney is not hanging onto a grudge, they were genuinely hurt by Chrissy and Chrissy should apologize no matter how long ago it happened.
Someone was saying on Twitter that it wasn’t just ten years ago, that it was as recent as two years ago. So she has been harassing her for years. That’s not trolling, that’s evil.
I think Jason Knauf is available.
@golly
I LOLed and feel slightly guilty.
Wouldn’t those two be perfect together
Nah. Jason only supports his white employers
Yes, you’ve hit on the essential question for me. People have been saying “it was the culture back then,” but was it really “the culture” to tell people they should kill themselves? Like, will historians write about the 2010’s as the Era of Athlesiure, Mini-bags and Being a Sociopath? Sorry, Chrissy – this is a whole lot more than just “past bullsh-t.”
This was the other thing I was thinking about.
Nastiness and mockery and bullying were indeed a facet of online gossip blogs and forums around this period.
But no, it was absolutely not common for a celebrity (as Teigen already was then, maybe not A list but certainly FAR wealthier and better connected than Courtney Stodden was) to have a massive hate campaign against someone and directly message them death wishes across different platforms.
If some random Joe from Indiana says something on a blog then ok, it’s still awful, but I don’t think it would have been the same compared to what Courtney must have felt with someone so much older and more powerful doing this.
It wasn’t the norm for adult public figures to get caught doing that- which is part of what made Diane Sawyer’s (another one who needs to woman up and apologize) defense of republican Kendall Ehlric’s statement about wanting to murder Britney because of her immodesty so shocking. But it was absolutely common in the 00’s and 10’s for non-famous, grown men and women to call for girls to be beaten, to be raped, or to wish death on them over this issue (all while lecturing on those girls’ need to be Good Role Models). At least from what I was seeing. Excuses were bs such as ‘free speech’ or, “growing thicker skin”, or “I’m not wealthy” or “But I’m/ he’s/ she’s A Private Citizen!” As if that’s to be used as some kind of shield. Even today you’ll sometimes see people using having less money than someone that’s being done to as justification, like people have tried with Meghan Markle.
None of that makes it ok though, as people are acknowledging here.
“Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullsh-t in front of the entire world.”
That made me cringe so hard. If you’re going to apologize (whether you mean it or not), try not to start out with “well, I’m the real victim here”. Starting out like that basically invalidated the rest of what she was saying, in my opinion. That on top of not apologizing privately (while seemingly suggesting that she did). She probably should have just kept this apology until she was ready to do it properly and sincerely.
Team Stodden.
Agree. I need a t-shirt.
Also if Chrissy’s goal is to “be beloved” by the faceless online hoard she’s in for continual disappointment.
100%. There is absolutely no excuse for how Chrissy behaved.
@ Deanne : This whole situation reminds me of the Rhianna lyrics – “Don’t tell me you’re sorry when you’re not. When we know you’re only sorry you to caught”. Yes, it was many years ago but is CT’s behaviour different now? I don’t know.
Absolutely.
I was blunter with my opinion yesterday, but there is no excuse for Teigen’s behavior.
This is a vomitous story, and if this child (now adult) truly survived everything that they went through over the past ten years intact it will be a miraculous blessing.
CT’s apology sucks and is SERIOUSLY not enough. Not even close. I would be grovelling on the floor if I had to face that I’d been so deeply cruel to a CHILD when I was an ignorant adult.
Damn! I actually like Chrissy and her adorable family. But a lot less now. A lot less.
Her kids are totally adorable but I just think it’s gross how much her and John exploit them. They are on her social media accounts multiple times a day, on magazine covers etc. It’s too much and potentially dangerous IMO.
John does not exploit his kids….he has talent!
I have wondered here many times how different John is to Chrissy; yet somehow they work…
If you look at the SM of Serena’s husband, you also see a good deal of Olympia. Look at Lebron James and his daughter….Lebron’s daughter has a YT channel.
I thought about it for a whole damn second and I think they are trying to make their kids comfortable with SM. Chrissy seems to be overdoing it but they’re her kids; so she knows what she is doing!
John can be talented and still exploit his kids. And the more messy Chrissy is the more she trots them out.
She should hope nobody ever harasses her daughter the way she harassed a teenager and a nine year old child.
I think Chrissy falls into the extreme troll category. They aren’t people anymore. They’re twitter trends you can benefit from. And the DMs… how hateful and sad is her heart to take time out of her day to do that?
I have a real problem with celebrities or anyone posting lots of things about their children who are not famous and have no choice in the matter. Maybe when they are pre-teens or older and have more of a voice, it is okay. I have a lot of respect for all those celebrities who keep their kids lives private. Call me old fashioned but childhood is extremely short and children should be allowed to enjoy it without people commenting about them.
Wait — she harassed a nine-year-old? What?!
Quvenzhané Wallis was 9 when she won Best Dressed at the Oscars in 2013, attending because she was nominated for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Chrissy tweeted “Is it okay to call a small child cocky? I am forced to like Quvenzhané Wallis because she’s a child right? Okay fine.”
In response, the Onion wrote a satirical article calling Wallis a c*nt, which they retracted and apologized for.
But I doubt that would have happened without Chrissy’s tweet.
“Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullsh-t in front of the entire world” oh my god stop feeling sorry for yourself… you SHOULD be held accountable for those hate-filled words.
Yep- not a lot of people have her kind of visibility on a global platform, either. And she used hers for evil.
Yeah. What she did was just so dangerous. I haven’t read everything about Courtney’s memoir yet. But I’m wondering if there was at least one person in their life at some point helping them through all that, making sure they understood they didn’t deserve what they were getting?
Totally agree with you Brittany. But also, the irony is that she is all “woe is me, my shittiness was broadcast to the world”- but also, most people of a certain age admit that we ARE grateful that social media wasn’t around when we were at our youngest and stupidest. I am sure we have all said dumb things that we regret and are glad they aren’t able to be pulled up 10 years later. BUT for starters, at 25 I wasn’t running around trolling an abused teenager and telling her to kill herself. I would probably have photos I’d regret, or comments that were regrettably dumb. I did not follow politics in my 20s, I thought George Bush was a cute Teddy Bear. THAT is regrettable and would be embarrassing to see on the internet NOW about myself. But CT was famous, and had a lot of people following her. She made her mistake IN the public eye, on purpose. So she should apologize without starting the apology with a note about how she is persecuted. Give me a break.
Yes people can change but quite frankly, there’s absolutely no excuse for a 26 year old telling a 16 year old she should just take her own life. 26 is old enough to know way better. that “apology” is weak as hell.
100% agree
It definitely is old enough to know better. This sort of thing is why it just isn’t impressive when misogynists try to tokenize girls in their teens and other women in their 20’s who share their ‘morality’ or are Cool with how verbally abusive and patriarchal they are. They can keep those thinkpieces, because the truth is that you can be an abusive, victim-blaming pos from any generation, and enjoy the validation that comes with that. All the positive attention and validation that comes with reassuring others that that’s still okay. One of Chrissy Teigan’s rants back in the day about how women should not waste their time trying to protect women from behavior like hers was championed by feminists. Of course she would say something like that. Look at how she spent her 20s treating girls.
I can’t decide if Chrissy Teigen is a raging, full blown a**hole or someone with severe mental health issues. The sad thing is, it presents the same way to the victims of her abuse & doesn’t change the impact of said abuse. I hope she takes a time out from playing downtrodden victim and stays out of vulnerable people’s lives. I also predict her coming out with her own abuse story in the next few weeks to explain away her problematic behaviour. This girl can’t survive if she’s not adored & admired at all times
Re: Chrissy – I think the core of the person that did this is still there. She has a filter now but the way she expresses herself a lot of the time feels like a watered-down version of what she was doing then.
why not both? I think it’s both. She needs to get off line, stay off line, and get some help. Not pandering celebrity therapy where they coddle her as she talks about how difficult it is to have so many fans; real, actual therapy that will address her catastrophic insecurity and obsessive need for attention.
Chrissy is trying to be as famous as her husband who has real talent and deserves his. I am sick of all these people and their brands. Fame for being loud on social media.
She’s all of those things…and more. Add narcissist to the list too. And thirsty.
The headline on this post should be “Chrissy Tiegen to TWITTER,” since Courtney can’t see her Twitter posts. And how dare she start off her apology with “Woe is me, I’m a celebrity??” She’s only apologizing because she got publicly shamed and wants to save her brands.
Yes, her bullshit apology is to the PUBLIC but barely mentions Courtney. She’s trying to keep her fans and sponsors, she doesn’t actually think she really did anything wrong. Chrissy needs professional help. She’s filled with a sinister darkness and it really shows.
Could not agree more. There is a real Jeckel and Hyde thing going on with this woman. She thrives off of the ugliness.
I think a good move for Chrissy would be to educate herself on grooming and child trafficking. Volunteer for FREE for a long period of time with an organization that works on these issues and provide ways to help fund the cause and provide much needed attention to the issue.
And for us not to hear every detail of it.
An apology – ok. I would say the force of it is sort of lost since it only happened when people publicly reviled Chrissy for it. And there is self-victimization in it, too. But I could see past that maybe if
1) Courtney wasn’t STILL blocked on Chrissy’s account and
2) Chrissy had not offered up a public apology to someone who privately had not yet forgiven her.
Trump and Chrissy are not the same obviously and he is absolute scum but they both used (in her case she still uses) Twitter in the same ways. To bully publicly and then avoid accountability.
We all make mistakes but a public figure who was wealthier and more famous repeatedly harassing Stodden over multiple platforms wishing death on them in various forms is….not a mistake IMO.
She owes Quvenzhané Wallis an apology too.
Chrissy is sounding like she is a UN world peace ambassador , no girl, everything you ever did was for you, not us.
You are a social media influencer not f***g mother Theresa.
Damn, yes, this.
The apology is awful. Like Kaiser alludes to, it’s not sincere when you make it all about yourself. And the fact she blocked Courtney and never reached out to her…. YIKES. Be glad you have a rich husband Chrissy.
“Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullsh-t in front of the entire world.”
This was an unnecessary line. It’s petty and immature (on brand for Chrissy I suppose).
She is lucky enough to be given the time of day after repeatedly proving what a waste of space she is.
Lol yeah, and it also has major woe is me energy. Like, listen, I’m so happy that the entire world is calling me out because personal growth and the sorry growth with the changing and the growing. Girl, just shut up if you can’t muster a decent apology.
It sounds like an incredibly clunky way to sound faux humble, but it really doesn’t do the job well.
It seems CT equates popular with beloved. I think she craves attention in any form, and if that means using her platform (and hanging out on Twitter all day long, every day) to pick on someone who is already being picked on, as long as that boosts her popularity, she’s all about it. I commented on this yesterday and some people were saying that there was skepticism about CS’ actual age. Regardless, what was out there publicly was that they were a teenager and the dynamic between them and their vile husband was clearly one of exploitation and abuse. CT has expressed anti-feminist views before and she seems to try really hard to be the “cool” girl that boys like. I don’t find much to admire in her. If she has the capacity to change, great. But she really seems to center everything on her need for the spotlight.
Courtney has said explicitly that they were a minor at the time. It is gross and victim-blaming to try to cast doubt on their word — unless there is genuinely proof, which there doesn’t seem to be.
Regardless it is inexcusable to tell someone to kill themselves. Suicide is not a funny joke.
Wowza. I’ve heard and taken passing glances at some of CT’s past dustups with various people but my God, finding out how she treated Courtney Stodden…my eyes be peeled ALL the way back. This “apology” doesn’t sit right and is nowhere near enough considering they have reported CT has NOT reached out privately and still has them blocked.
CT is obviously trying to save her ass publicly (and yes, her endorsements!) now that they have spoken out about how they were harrassed and abused at the hands of this wretch. I remain appalled. Chrissy Teigen is truly problematic. I never want to hear another word from or about her again.
Same. Seeing this abuse against a child. Done no further CT Tweets, endorsements or tv gigs will be given the time of day be me. She is a mess and a troll and girl get some help.
Not only did she wait 24 hours to post an “apology”, but she’s been called out for this before, recently, and ignored it then. This time her toxic behavior got more attention, so this time she decided (or was told) she actually needed to address it. She’s full of crap and probably so pissed that she can’t somehow spin this into making herself a victim.
She is a piece of iredeemable narcissistic trash. Without Legend on her side she’d be long gone as she should.
I’m seriously questioning where he is in all of this….and where he was/is while she does all these things.
I’ve been asking myself the same thing. There is a huge difference between being supportive and being complicit.
My husband is my partner and we support each other. If I’m wrong he helps me to correct myself as I do for him. This has been going on for years… is John just checked out on his wife or doesn’t really know who he’s married to? Or worse… does he support it? Find it funny?
Without him, his name and reputation, his money to invest in her ventures – she would have had a few moderately successful years as a model and been done. Most models do not make the money people think they do. And it’s a brief career. And let’s be clear, her association with him got her gigs as a model. In the end, she is just a mean girl. It’s not that complicated. We all know mean girls just like her. She got some sympathy after the miscarriage and a brand new mansion, but I am quite sure John is looking for an exit.
I’ve wondered the same thing. He seems like a pretty level-headed and kind person. I can’t see him supporting her behavior here.
Really?
John has excellent PR and reputation. He speaks infrequently. Matthew mcconaughey
Was the same. Great PR until he started speaking freely. Even way back to Mel Gibson good press and a cultivated image covered who we know them as today.
I’m not saying John is a bad guy. I’m saying we don’t know. And that he’s been married to Chrissy for all these years while she openly shows us who she is… he must know and somehow be fine with it.
He limited the comments on his Instagram. He’s watching this play out silently. Who knows what he’s saying in private.
Maria
I checked his Instagram. There were only a few messages posted in the last few minutes that were negative about Chrissy so I’m sure it’s getting cleaned frequently.
But omg her instagram is almost entirely people dragging her for the weak apology and the comments. Nothing looks checked over there.
Yeah between my last comment and yours he had a new post. We’ll see, lol.
EDIT: Yep, limited comments on that one. That was fast!
I’ll give John credit. He does seem to be a genuine guy and is truly involved in his causes. It must be frustrating to have that space of promoting worthy causes invaded by the fallout of his wife’s latest bullying scandal.
He may be an okay guy but this makes me think he’s been yukking it up about this crap with her behind the scenes for years.
I think he thinks her “hot girl drama” is cute or something.
Maria
Yeah, I’ve thought that too. Others are saying it. His image is being tarnished by association.
I feel like she’s mean to John Legend too. I know it’s her brand supposedly, but sometimes, it’s a lot, honestly and it goes way too far.
She needs to held accountable for the things she’s said over the years! Usually, I just try to ignore Chrissy so I miss a lot of the drama. I just figured she was super annoying but not harmful. She’s a witch. A few days ago I read an article where they listed all the tweets that were just about kids in a sexual way. I’m sure (I hope) it was just a joke but it was creepy. I had no idea she was so problematic!
Same. I muted her on Twitter ages ago because I didn’t find her funny and got tired of her being retweeted into my timeline. But I had no idea she was so cruel.
This is the kind of thing an apology doesn’t really work for, even if ut had been a better one. Some things are bad enough that they require work to show you’ve changed, and I don’t think Tiegen has.
I can’t believe she blocked Courtney, and didn’t actually try to reach out privately first. That says all I need to know.
Exactly! She sounds more apologetic towards her “followers” than towards Courtney themself. And Courtney’s response was perfection, pointing out how Chrissy’s fauxpology was more self-serving than sincere.
When people show you who they are believe them! We all need to remember this
I’m done with CT. Her apology was weak and shouldn’t have to have happened in the first place. Who does what she did? Just gross behaviour.
Will Target and Macy’s drop her?
They should. Who knows if they will. The good thing is now outlets like Newsweek are picking up on her old tweets like the Quvenzhané Wallis one.
If this picks up more momentum they might. It’s rarely about anything other than money for corps. Rarely, but not always.
Her apology sucked and now people are asking how John feels so this might stay in the news.
@annie , this is what I’m wondering as well. As many have pointed out, and apology does not address the total darkness and evilness of what she did. She should face more repercussions, but will she?
It’s hard to believe that telling someone they should kill themselves was ever considered anything less than despicable. Ever. I don’t care if it was ten years ago. That was hardly the middle-ages. CT is cruel.
Telling someone to kill themselves is an evil, awful thing.
She wasn’t just saying this to Courtney! Chrissy has said this to multiple people!! (I mean, do I like Sarah Palin? No, absolutely not, but I’m not out here telling her to shoot herself in the face like a sociopath, JFC.)
It really really is.
Chrissy blocked Courtney on Twitter so they couldn’t even read the apology.
And now Chrissy’s followers (aka possibly Chrissy with an alt account) are trying to back her up. Go on Courtney’s IG anf you can see for yourself.
Someone asked what sort of value does Chrissy bring to the world, and they were attacked by her “fans”.
Chrissy is toxic and just needs to crawl back into the hole in which she came from.
What a coincidence, I am ashamed of and mortified by Chrissy too.
I am GLAD to see this much concern for the well-being and proper treatment of Courtney. I only wish they had received the same treatment when they were just a child/adolescent.
Chrissy can screw herself. Messaging a teenager privately to tell them to kill themself has nothing to do with seeking attention. Chrissy has some rot in her soul and she needs to get that fixed!
THIS. What’s “attention-seeking” about PRIVATELY messaging someone that they should kill themself? I wouldn’t have been on board with an apology from her anyway but this is where she really lost me.
Agreed. I think I saw something about Chrissy losing deals with target and Macy’s. The fact that there might be a consequence, and the compassion being expressed for Courtney, are a step forward in treating both sexes equally when it comes to speech.
I’ve always thought Tiegen was an obnoxious ass and now I have proof that she is. She just oozes annoying and arrogant out of every pore. Go away already!
Who in their sane mind encourages anyone to commit suicide? C.T is an awful person and her apology was too weak.
This apology is to save her business deals and to stop getting berated on Twitter. She’s apologized many times, but still not as much as she should and continues her behavior still.
It was never to Stodden or for Stodden and I’m glad she’s being called out on this.
“I have worked so hard to give you guys joy and be beloved and the feeling of letting you down is nearly unbearable, truly.“. Chrissy makes it seems like she’s some sort of loved comedienne. No you’re an attention seeking oversharer that got lucky when you married John Legend.
Chrissy is just awful. I’m seriously wondering where John Legend’s head is at with all of this… he’s usually quiet and rarely addresses the things she does but he’s always pushed this super positive and uplifting image of himself. His wife does not fit in with this. Many celebs are petty and involved with drama, but telling someone repeatedly to kill themselves???? No excuse whatsoever. Starting to really side eye him as well.
Where was all this outrage when she piled on Quvenzhané Wallis? Quvenzhané was NINE years old at the time. Nine.
I remember that. I think it was kinda overshadowed by an article in The Onion which also mocked Quvenzhané (in a more obviously jokey manner, but still totally inappropriate). While it never should’ve been written and posted in the first place, they did at least retract the article and apologized. I don’t know that Chrissy ever did.,,
The Onion wrote it responding to her tweets in the first place. I’m glad this is getting more traction.
I read The Onion’s joke as mocking criticism of a little girl rather than mocking Quvenzhane. Like of course you wouldn’t call her a name like that, she’s a child. Maybe I’m giving them too much credit? Chrissy’s “joke” was that she genuinely disliked Quvenzhane.
Yes! How is that any less of a big deal?
Damn, Chrissy is terrible and Courtney comes off mature and thoughtful. Haven’t checked on Courtney in years but I’m so glad they’re in a better place.
I started following them on Instagram a few months ago, and they seem to be in a good place. They are positive in a non-toxic way.
Whatever to that toxic woman.
Whether or not the apology was sincere, I’m glad Courtney has forgiven her. They have so much awful shit that they need to process and heal from as it is, and they don’t need one more pathetic, bullying troll to add to that burden.
This probably sounds weird coming from some random woman on the internet who doesn’t know them at all, but I’m really very proud of Courtney, in a big sister sort of way. They have risen above so many traumatic events in their life, and that takes incredible strength. So many people really ganged up on them. We’re talking about a vulnerable teenaged girl* who was groomed by her mother to be some sort of child trophy bride, then handed off to a disgusting middle-aged man who belongs on a sex offender registry, who proceeded to abuse her in any number of ways. How in the hell could anyone not see that this CHILD was a victim who deserved all the compassion we could muster? Jesus, we should’ve been staging a rescue raid! But no, people blithely typed away on computers and phones, mocking Courtney’s appearance, and the changes they made to their body (which were likely motivated by insecurity and the whims of their abusive pedophile husband). People called them a slut for being trapped in a marriage that they really had no say in. Do they also mock the millions of child brides in India, the Middle East, and Africa? Probably not. So why Courtney? Did it stem from an unwillingness to acknowledge that things like this DO happen in America?
*Is it appropriate to use a trans or non-binary person’s birth pronouns when referring to events which happened before their transition or coming-out? I apologize if I got this wrong.
This is a great comment, Miranda.
“People called them a slut for being trapped in a marriage…” I don’t even get that. Courtney was married and having sex with their husband. The whole “slut” thing doesn’t even make sense, there. A person who got married at 16 and was married for 10ish years has likely had far fewer sexual partners than the average 26 year old. And I thought we, as a society, were somewhat okay with women dressing/being sexy for their husband. Isn’t that basically the only time women are “allowed” their sexuality: when they’re married? Isn’t that encouraged, even? As in, their “job” is to be sexually attractive and available for their husband? Most slut shaming seems to be directed at women and girls who aren’t married because their sexuality is their own then, it’s not “owned” and “managed” by their husband. This poor child. Forced into a marriage—a committed monogamous relationship—with a man 3 times her age and yet still being called out as a slut for…having sex with their husband? In a society where marriage=the only respectable place to have sex?
LOTS of us have felt very insecure. Most of us have never dealt with that by telling someone to off themselves. The two are not related, in my opinion. One is a view of self. The other is a deeply disturbed behavior directed at others with intent to cause them pain.
The fact that she never actually apologized privately says it all, doesn’t it?
I really don’t think there’s any justification or way to apologize for telling someone to kill themselves, but this one especially misses the mark. She was a grown woman when she did this TO A CHILD. I don’t care if she was an attention-seeking troll, telling someone to kill themselves is what sick, sick people do, not attention seekers.
The Mama Rottweiler in me just wants to rip CT to shreds.
The Caring and loving Mama in me just wants to gather Courtney up and comfort them and protect them and try to make things better as it’s clear, absolutely clear that they have never had/felt it.
Mark my words, her marriage’s days are numbered. That brand new band aid house won’t fix this.
How do we even know this though? He knows exactly who he’s married to. He’s on social media. He sees and hears about her BS. And says nothing about it. His silence implies his approval, or at the very least acceptance – I can’t read it any other way when a grown woman tells a girl to kill herself and he just sits there.
A real apology would include Chrissy examining her internalised misogyny and why she was so hateful towards Courtney over so many years. Don’t just say sorry you did something wrong, actually do the work to figure out WHY so you can genuinely try to correct and unlearn the problematic attitudes you’ve absorbed that allowed you to dehumanise someone to the point of directly telling them to kill themselves.
Chrissy’s apology could have been simply: Courtney I am so sorry for hurting you with my abusive, horrible words. There is absolutely no excuse for what I did. I wish you all the best in your continued healing. Please know, again how sorry I am for my horrible behavior.
There I fixed it for her. NO fucking excuse. Because there is none. Courtney was a 16 year old child. Groomed by that creepy ass husband and given away by their parents, who should have been the ones to protect and love them!!!! I feel very sorry for Courtney, and hope they are able to move on and heal. In fact, it seems Courtney is already the bigger person here, saying they forgive Chrissy, when IMO, she doesn’t deserve it.
This would have been so much better.
@Cave24 Yes, apologies with “but” drive me nuts LOL! Please stop trying to make excuses for your behavior if you are truly sorry! In addition, there is literally NO excuse for telling anyone (I don’t care who they are) to go kill themselves! And Courtney was a 16 year old girl – groomed by their ex-husband Doug (ugh) and betrayed by their parents! And you can’t have some fucking compassion or sympathy?????
I mean I absolutely hate and loathe Donald Trump haha!!! But even so, I wouldn’t tell him to go kill himself….because I am not a God damn sociopath !!!
CT needs some serious psychological help if she is capable of just going off on people like that. It is very disturbing and troubling behavior IMO. If I were her sponsors, I would consider dropping her!
And the part she seems most sorry for is that she’s let her fans down. She’s centering herself and her own feelings rather than the pain she inflicted on Courtney.
@Kebbie Absolutely!!! I am not even sure how this story got traction now (as it happened a long time ago) – did Courtney bring it up in a recent interview, is what happened? I don’t blame them ONE bit for bringing it to light, if that is the case!!!! Regardless, Chrissy should have f**king apologized a LONG time ago!!! And, she is only doing so now b/c it is back in the headlines again! And, as people have pointed out, CT has been vile and vicious to other people as well: Sarah Palin, Lindsay Lohan, Donald Trump…and others. This seems a very disturbing pattern for her. Again, I might not like Sarah Palin or Donald Trump, but never in a million years would I wish death on them, or say something like “go kill yourself”
UGH!!
All I got is her husband seems super nice and, ‘beloved.’ I feel sorry for him.
I frankly don’t see how he can be “nice” being married to someone so hateful.
She keeps saying it was in the past, 10 years ago, but it was still ongoing 2 years ago.
He’s quiet and keeps his mouth shut so we don’t know him at all, all that tells me is he’s smarter than she is and he listens to his PR people.
Are any of these apologies ever truly sincere? They are forced hand. If they were sincere it would have happened on their own accord, not because someone made a big deal out of it. Did people really expect something different? Insanity.
you’re right that these apologies are rarely (if ever) actually sincere, but at the very least they should be better written than this self-serving passive aggressive attempt chrissy made.
Even better written it would still be self-serving. It’s only a means to placate the public.
The thing is, if you were to look back at my SM for 10 years, even 15 years ago, or dug up my old Myspace account, you wouldn’t see anything sexist or racist, or me telling someone to kill themselves, because I would never do that in the first place. Even 20 year old me wasn’t okay with saying anything like that let alone putting it on SM. And if I did, my friends would have something to say because they don’t speak like that and wouldn’t be okay with me or our friends saying something like that.
Totally.
Also, how are you that rich, with a staff full of people, and no one is scrubbing your twitter for the heinous things you said back in the day??
If it’s thousands of posts, well, get to work assistants. Mama has a wholesome reputation these days.
I’m not a fan of either of them, but telling someone to kill themself is vile. And as Chrissy was an adult then, it can’t be blamed on teenage pettiness either.
As someone who lost a family member to suicide mere hours after her ex-husband’s new gf told her to kill herself, this is so horrible to read. Chrissy’s “apology” is weak af and she needs to do some serious work on herself if she thinks this was just her “being a troll”. Words like this have real consequences and are never a joke.
(I’m not placing the blame for my family member’s death on the woman who said that to her, but in a dark and lonely moment it had a profound effect on her and the results are tragic.)
My ex’s new girlfriend (who he knocked up after knowing her a few weeks) sent me a text mocking me for a miscarriage and telling me to kill myself). It was so insane that it didn’t hurt. To me it showed a seriously disturbed, rage-filled, insecure woman. If I had been in a different place mentally, I can see how it could have been devastating. But I had already healed and thought, “good luck with all that”. There is something very wrong with a person who can tell another person to kill themselves. It’s next-level sick.
That’s awful. I’m sorry you experienced behavior like that, Midge and Tarabest. People can be really cruel.
Midge, I’m sorry to hear that. Some people’s behavior is truly beyond belief. I’m glad you’ve been able to heal and hope you’re doing well.
Chrissy is the most pathetic, attention seeking media hound there is. Why this non talent nobody who married well has so much attention on Twitter is beyond me. She can bully whoever she wants on social media but if someone gives it back she whines and cries. Classic bully
Only one person looks good here and it sure isn’t Chrissy. Bet she wishes this situation hadn’t come back to haunt her rather than wishing she hadn’t ever said any of it. Courtney isn’t wrong, it seems like a fake apology for damage control.
That’s the kind of apology that, if it came from my spawn, would merit :yeah, you’re not really apologizing, are you? Get back in your room and really think of the kind of apology YOU would want if the roles were reversed.”
Why is it all about her and CS? Shouldn’t her comments to Lindsay Lohan, Sarah Palin and Quvenzhané, who was a nine year old child(!) be called out as well?
They absolutely should be called out, but I think the focus is on Stodden largely because Stodden is the one who received several personal private messages telling them to commit suicide and die and also a disproportionately large amount of tweets directed at them.
Unless Teigen wrote DMs to the rest….which she may have.
Just think if Courtney had committed suicide. What would Chrissy have done? Laughed about it that she was able to get Courtney to commit? She is a sad excuse for a human being and it just shows that money, power and fame can’t buy basic morals. I know she has always had a mouth on her but this is too much. Target and others should dump her.
Chrissy has a social media addiction. It’s obvious and she even tried to give it up and couldn’t! She’s also an ass.
Just think if Courtney had committed suicide. What would Chrissy have done? Laughed about it that she was able to get Courtney to commit? She is a sad excuse for a human being and it just shows that money, power and fame can’t buy basic morals. I know she has always had a mouth on her but this is too much. Target and others should dump her.
Just think if Courtney had committed suicide. What would Chrissy have done? Laughed about it that she was able to get Courtney to commit? She is a sad excuse for a human being and it just shows that money, power and fame can’t buy basic morals. I know she has always had a mouth on her but this is too much. Target and others should dump her.
Chrissy probably wouldn’t care. She’d think about it for a minute and never again.
She made those comments and never apologized so maybe she forgot about them or never felt it worth her time?
We can tell from this statement she isn’t actually sorry. She just wants the bad press to stop with minimal effort.
@detonw359 Actually IF Courtney had committed suicide, there is a very real possibility CT could have been held legally liable/responsible. There is now legal precedence for this. I don’t know if you know/remember the case of the teen, Michelle Carter, who was found guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter (2017). She texted, and encouraged her boyfriend to kill himself, and he did. She was taken to trial and found guilty, and sentenced to prison. Not sure how long. So yeah, CT would have been in a world of shit, had Courtney actually followed through with that!!!
Chrissy has had years to apologise but won’t until there’s a public shaming. You can’t ignore your old behaviour and pretend it didn’t exist. She always waits until she’s called out. And then she PERFORMS an apology. She doesn’t grow and it’s disappointing because there’s such power in her platform.
That’s been my problem with her but I realise now her actual issue is what they call in comedy “punching down” aka picking a target who is easy to go after and make fun of from a place of privilege. She didn’t just figure out it’s not appropriate to tell a child to take a dirt nap. She’d NEVER tolerate anyone doing it to her children but it was easy to pile onto Stodden at that time, and it made her feel good because her fans thought she was funny. Gross. Maybe it’s time to take another long break from Twitter.
Punching down is definitely the right word for it. I think you’re onto something about her having picked easier targets. Even in the late 00s/early 10s, there seemed to be a bit of a cultural turning point where people started to have to be careful about which kids they targeted/cyberbullied, and which slurs were a no-no. It doesn’t seem like Chrissy Teigan would have been as quick to target boys the way she went after girls, or at least it doesn’t seem like she would have gotten away with it as long as she did.
This reads as somebody who is desperate to save their business associations, not somebody who is sincere. She has major deals with Target and Macys and is probably scared that they’ll drop her, so she’s doing damage control.
Also, that statement reads so weirdly – she tried to “be beloved?” Honey, why are you seeking the approval and love of thousands of nameless people online? By all accounts, you have a husband who loves you, two kids, etc. You do not need affection from people online. She genuinely needs real counseling – and I know she’s alluded to seeing a therapist in the past, but obviously she needs a better one – one who will tell her honestly what she needs to hear.
CT definitely needs therapy. If at her age she still doesn’t see why what she did was wrong and abusive then she is missing something fundamental in herself. There are too many people who see this for what it is for her to continue on without true remorse. How can she still not care that a person she told to kill themselves was actually suicidal and in a completely abusive situation, and that she only added to their pain? That is a sickness, a lack of a conscience. She can say this this is all past stuff as much as she wants, but that’s not true if she still acts the same now, which she does.
“all of my wants to believe this is a sincere apology…” — “ALL OF ME”?? Isn’t that a John Legend song? Damn, Courtney, kudos on that clever turn of phrase.
The fact that Tiegan had to be publicly called out BEFORE making her ‘apology’. Courtney has been very open about their struggles and the way that everyone treated them. The fact that they had to call Tiegan out in the media to get a response tells us all that Tiegan is trash and always has been.
As a mental health professional and as a human being, I can’t profess enough how disturbing this is to me. That one person would tell another person to kill themselves is unfathomably cruel, horrific and evil. And unforgivable. That it was done to a child makes it even worse. Children are fragile and in this case, because she so clearly sought outside validation, she might have listened! Kids do! People do! I will never view Chrissy the same again and, in my book, she is canceled for me.
“That one person would tell another person to kill themselves is unfathomably cruel, horrific and evil. And unforgivable. That it was done to a child makes it even worse.”
ITA. And could possibly be called criminal behavior IF it resulted in suicide. I’m remembering the Michelle Carter case and one of her texts to her boyfriend was “just do it babe..”.
Marigold I agree 💯 with everything you have said. Courtney was an abuse victim already fragile and this woman targeted her and told her to kill her self. My God canceling is not enough Chrissy deserved to be criminally charged.
Wow Courtney is AMAZING. I hope they get to pursue whatever career they are interested in and get all the support. They are still so young and it must be so hard to go through all of this in the public eye. I really hope they have a supportive chosen family through all of this.
Not the best of apologies. That’s for sure.
CT needs to be banned from social media. She is dangerous. One of her tweets can send an already vulnerable person over the edge. She should also seek professional help. She’s a mother and this type of behavior needs to be treated before she passes it on to her kids.
Teigen is such a messy, insecure person, and was hella mean then, and incredibly clueless and thin skinned now. I don’t think she is as nasty a person as she once was but only because people have called her out on it, but she still doesn’t get it and is shirking accountability for her bullying. I’ve never seen someone just continuously squander any good will that comes her way the way Teigen does. I don’t know how people couldn’t see how Stodden was exploited by that man and how wrong it was. Terrible apology. She should have reached out privately to Stodden before she posted this insincere self- centered “ apology “ and really needs to educate herself on things like this. She should have kept her Twitter deactivated.
If this doesn’t ruin CT’s marriage then my contempt for her will carry over to her husband. I don’t care how talented and kind and sweet he seems, he needs to either get her into therapy STAT or unload her. She is tarnishing his image. As for Courtney, I’m so proud of the way they’ve fought back against some truly horrific situations with her parents and her ex-husband. They seem to have come out of it stronger and wiser, and their goodness shines through.
Jaded
After the dust settled on Stodden and she lived her day to day with Doug they would be in the news for domestic disturbances that sounded so violent the neighbors would call the police. Living with an abusive alcoholic is a terror no one should know.
Stodden is likely incredibly strong to survive a situation that might have killed her.
So true. They are one strong survivor. FWIW, long ago I got involved with an emotionally abusive alcoholic. I was so young I thought love would solve everything, but it didn’t. It was 2-1/2 years of hell followed by years of trying to get my self-esteem and confidence back. Courtney has my unending sympathy and respect.
Jaded
I can empathize. I was lucky enough to escape less than a year in, but the trauma follows you and it’s a road to recovery.
I wish her only the best now.
Let’s just say it. CT has always been desperate for attention and “love ” from anyone and everyone. I can’t stand her and never could. I am sorry for Courtney and the horrible stuff she went through as a child. CT should grow up, own up and maybe look inside. Do your work CT.
I can’t stand Chrissy and she probably is only apologizing becasen this is such awful PR. However it’s a pretty good apology. I mean….if we want people to apologize what more do we want from them? I dunno but I will say I am so happy for Courtney and the way she was treated was disgusting. Thank god the tides are finally starting to turn. Not fast enough for my liking though.
Well for starters, it’s always a good logical choice to make sure the apology you are directing at someone is actually visible to that person in the first place, which it wasn’t for Courtney because they are still blocked from Teigen’s account.
Also Courtney has been talking about this for a long time and Teigen has been ignoring it. Teigen should count herself fortunate that Courtney is still alive to receive an apology (not from her directly apparently, but you get the idea).
Also, the lie that Teigen reached out to her in private, is a lie. So a lie in your apology, is not great either.
Also, the constant reiteration of “I, I, I” isn’t great. But that would be less of a big deal if Teigen wasn’t a fraud about the whole thing.
It’s the private DMs that makes it 10x worst for me. Just a nasty person. I swear it makes me.dislike John Legend because I can’t fathom why he finds her big ball of suck cute or attractive. She is nasty to other women, demeaning to other Black girls/women but she gets this huge pass. I just don’t get it.
Starting your apology by saying you’re *lucky* to apologize is the worst apology. Start by saying I was truly wrong and I sincerely apologize would be better.
So, John and Chrissy are posting like normal. Target only says they removed her frying pan line, but that was actually removed months ago. And all the stories about this on my apple news are showing Chrissy in the most sincere and merciful light, heavily editing her apology.
So, here we are. She’s Teflon. A patron saint to online bullies.
I’m not really surprised.
Stodden is not a “perfect” victim in the eyes of many, so this was never going to strike a public chord the way it would have with another person.
But Chrissy may have to leave social media for a bit.
John Legend disgusts me with his silence. I used to really like and respect him. I guess this is our confirmation he stands by her bullying.
He made his values clear. He will protect his wife while she relentlessly bullies children and victims of abuse for a laugh.
I’m done with them both.
So Chrissy and Charlie Sheen have something in common with their teflonness..how proud she must be in getting away with her vitriolic diatribes. Eventually, Charlie’s caught up to him.
@Maria, agree. Chrissy needs to leave social medial, more than a bit though..3-6 months at least and honestly/privately, reach out to Courtney, and ask what she can do to make amends or help her…….without making it public.
I noticed your use of pronouns for Courtney in the first paragraph, and then did a google. I am soooo astounded by how incredibly strong Courtney is, and how they have overcome such incredible odds at the hands of not only their mother, but the abuser they were sold off to when they were 16 years old. I never thought I would utter these words (because I haven’t thought about them in years): Courtney Stodden is a pillar of resilience, strength and courage. They are doing a public service by telling their story, I have such a new level of respect and understanding because of them.
Something is to be said of a person who not only thinks such harmful things but proceeds to say them.
That’s not normal behavior.
Absolutely loathsome creature. What does she even do as a career besides mean girling other celebs?
The only thing I’ve taken away from her whole schtick is that she feels like she’s doing some service to the rest of the world by sharing her every internal thought publicly. Typical narcissistic behavior.
How about “ I was hateful and abusive and trying to cause harm.”
I am still not sure who any of these people are, but the mean troll seems horrible.
No excuse for that sort of bullying, actually encouraging someone to kill themselves, using words like that. Doesn’t matter who it is or who you think you are. It’s just beyond the pale.
What does she mean WAS!!???
It seems she really hasn’t learned from her mistakes, she just got called out on them. I expect more of these types of things to come out in the future. The problem with being a vile person and constantly on social media/constantly posting is that eventually your true self will be exposed for better or worse.