The Untold Truth Of Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen is at the top of her game. She's a model, TV personality, author, wife, and mother — is there anything Teigen can't do? The model is incredibly influential and is especially beloved on social media with, as of this writing, more than 12 million followers on Twitter and 27 million followers on Instagram.

According to Biography, she's modeled for the likes of Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour, and has co-hosted shows including Lip Sync Battle and Bring the Funny. But she hasn't let her fame and success go to her head. Teigen is known for being outspoken and wearing her heart on her sleeve, endearing her to fans who see her as relatable. While any fan of Teigen's likely already knows a lot about her because of her tendency to overshare, there's still plenty to discover about this celebrity icon. The truth about Chrissy Teigen is even more fascinating than you might think.

It's hard to imagine the fierce and outspoken Chrissy Teigen being cowed by anyone, but her confidence is something that she has built up over time. According to Teigen herself, she wasn't very assertive when she was younger. "I used to be very much a 'yes' person; always wanting to make other people happy and not necessarily putting my own needs and desires first," she told PopSugar.

Teigen said that she has learned to become more confident as she's gotten older, transforming herself from a "pushover" and a "people pleaser" into someone who isn't afraid to speak up. "I've been through different stages in my life — different types of work, different agencies, had different teams — and I think as you just get older, you gain confidence and realize that there are certain things that are important to you, and you're not afraid to speak up on them anymore," she said. 

Modeling may have helped Chrissy Teigen become famous, but she doesn't take it all too seriously. She was discovered at the age of 18 while working at a sporting goods store. "I never thought of myself as a real model," she told Net-a-Porter. "I made consistent money working for catalogues and websites, where they didn't care if your eyes were open or closed, because you didn't even see my face. I was modeling the back of a shirt with words on it. Honestly, it was the least glamorous way to model."

She eventually worked her way up the ranks, becoming a swimsuit model who graces magazine covers, but the modeling world is far from the most important thing in Teigen's life. "Some people, I think, think that because I don't take it as seriously as a lot of the girls do, that I frown upon modeling or think it's stupid," she told The Daily Beast. "I don't at all. This is my life. I would be nothing without this. But I really don't take it seriously."

Chrissy Teigen has a couple of tattoos that hold deep personal meaning for her. She and husband John Legend both got inked in April 2019 with matching tattoos. They each have their spouse's name tattooed on their arms, along with their kids' names, Miles and Luna. Teigen wrote about the tattoos on Instagram, saying, "Hey guys please don't talk to us unless u have tattoos we are a cool tattoo family now and we only want to talk to other tattoo families ([sorry] if this seems harsh)."

A few months later, in October 2019, Teigen got another tattoo — this time on her own. According to Marie Claire, the tattoo consists of a string of numbers commemorating the birthdays of all the people in her family. Teigen again posted about getting tatted on Instagram, captioning the photos of her getting inked with "cool mom back at it again."

These days, people adore Chrissy Teigen for her frankness and witty comments. She's not one to hold back, and she even hilariously roasts her husband, John Legend, whenever she gets the chance. Before she was famous, though, people weren't so appreciative of Teigen's outspokenness. "It wasn't really an accepted thing within my modelling and TV career early on," she told Harper's Bazaar. "I would get in trouble, lots of phone calls from agents saying 'Why did you tweet this? Now we're in trouble with such-and-such a contract because you were too outspoken.' I got so much feedback that I needed to watch my mouth if I wanted to work with certain people. And I remember sobbing so much because it was just the worst feeling, letting people down."

While Teigen lost work because people couldn't deal with her being so outspoken, she refused to change who she is. "But I'm just stubborn and never listened, and I'm happy I didn't because now they look at you for the way you are, and I love being an open book," she said. "I feel like everyone knows what they're getting now and it's a very comfortable place to be in life."

TV is a favorite way to unwind for many people, and Chrissy Teigen is one of them. The model is a bit of a television junkie, and she especially loves reality shows. "Honestly, the things that make me happy are so little," she told Good Housekeeping. "It's truly, like, having a new episode of Below Deck to watch, or a new episode of The Affair, that is where I find happiness."

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Teigen discussed her love for Bravo shows and said that John Legend watches right along with her. In fact, keeping up with Bravo's reality shows has become something of a family affair. "[John is] fascinated by it," she said. "Lisa Vanderpump is John's favorite woman on the planet. My brother-in-law is also obsessed, so we went to [Lisa's restaurant] SUR in L.A. You know how people give celebrities their phone and are like, 'Can you say hi to my mom?' I've never done that, but I did it with Lisa: 'Can you say hi to John, please?' He thinks she's beautiful. I'm like, This is your type?"

You'd think that Chrissy Teigen would work out a lot considering that she's a model and clearly in great shape. While she does exercise to stay healthy, she's not exactly what you would call a gym junkie. The model told Women's Health that she works out four days a week, but she's also a "slight cardio hater."

Teigen pretty much has to drag herself to the gym, but she's very proud of one workout talent. "Sometimes I think I'm the weakest person, but I can plank for 20 minutes," she said. 

Teigen admitted that she is sometimes frustrated with how her body has changed since having two kids, but she has grown to accept it. "Since I was 20 years old, I had this weight in my mind that I am, or that I'm supposed to be," she said. She went on, "And then I started realizing it was a swimsuit-model weight. There's a very big difference between wanting to be that kind of fit and wanting to be happy-fit."

It's no secret that airbrushing occurs quite a bit in the modeling industry. Chrissy Teigen has had her body touched up in edits, and she's not been too thrilled about it. In 2018, she modeled her pregnancy stretch marks on her Instagram Story (via Harper's Bazaar). "Everyone Photoshops them out," she later told Elle. "It's insane. And I don't want anyone to feel like they're the only ones. I was on a Victoria's Secret shoot and it was a big turning point for me to see those women with scars and stretch marks and bruises. Who's to say it's even a flaw?"

Teigen might be critical of the industry, but she is also happy to see that it is slowly changing and becoming more inclusive. She's also thrilled to see more women speaking out about the problems in the industry. "I've never seen women have more fight in them than now," she said. "We're ready to stir the pot and bring issues to light."

Even though Chrissy Teigen lives a seemingly magical life, the way she fell in love with John Legend wasn't actually the stuff of fairy tales. That's not to say that their love story isn't adorable — because it totally is — but the way they fell in love was refreshingly normal. The couple met on the set of one of Legend's music videos in 2007. "We just clicked," she told Elle. "It wasn't like 'he's so sexy!' But he did make the first move, for sure."

Teigen was charmed by Legend, but she wasn't exactly swept off her feet. "It was never like 'this is the man I'm going to marry,'" she said. "There's also those normal stories where you date and talk and just grow together."

Even Legend's 2011 proposal was quite normal. "I had the worst cramps!" shared Teigen. "He has videos of me complaining so hard. But then the waiter came with this silver dome, and all this arugula falls out and there's a ring box. There was no grand speech but, yeah, I cried."

Family is super important to Chrissy Teigen. Late in 2019, it was announced that Teigen's parents were splitting up, but it seems that they had been on the outs for some time. "Mom is over so much that she lives with us basically and they've had this kind of relationship for a long time," Teigen told People in 2018. "And my dad comes to the house every other day or so, he was just over yesterday."

Teigen took the split in stride. While she didn't publicly comment on the breakup, Vanity Fair reporter Karen Valby said that they talked about it when Teigen was interviewed for the magazine. The article doesn't discuss the breakup of her parents, but Valby revealed on Twitter that Teigen seemed at peace with the split, writing that Teigen "and her lovely mom talked about the coming split during our [Vanity Fair] time."

Teigen reportedly joked to her parents that she'd now be getting two Christmases.

Food holds a lot of meaning for Chrissy Teigen. She told Harper's Bazaar that she's pretty much always thinking about eating. "Food is very emotional for me," she said. "There's something wonderful about being able to sit with your family and gossip, laugh or watch bad TV while eating a delicious bite that brings everyone together."

Food is also a way for Teigen to connect with her culture. "Thailand is such a big part of my family and me," she said in an interview for Chase Sapphire's Talking Travel series. "My mom, Pepper, who lives with us, is from there and is constantly cooking Thai recipes at home."

Teigen made sure to include some of her mom's Thai recipes in her second cookbook, Cravings: Hungry for More. "I used to be embarrassed of Thai food's weird smells as a little kid (especially the strong garlic scent), but now I crave all of the different Thai spices and use endless amounts of garlic in my recipes," she said. "I've come to be proud of my heritage, instead of shying away from it."

Curious about the model's diet? Here's what Chrissy Teigen really eats every day.

Chrissy Teigen is an excellent cook and, as noted by Entertainment Weekly, has a couple of cookbooks under her belt. There's one culinary skill that eludes her, though: baking. "I don't have a good documented history of baking and but I obviously love to cook," she told Parade. "For some reason baking, it just gets me. I really love braising, and I love roasting, and I love things that take a long time and I like being able to drink wine and watch TV and cook. And with baking it's very systematic and it's a bit much for me."

She might not be great at baking, but her cooking prowess more than makes up for it. John Legend also has some talent in the kitchen, although they never cook together. "I cook for her; she cooks for me," Legend, who's starred as a coach on The Voice, told Hamptons, citing different cooking styles. "She's a bit more creative in the kitchen. I like to follow recipes, and I'm very good at executing them. I'll look them up online or literally in her book."

Chrissy Teigen makes living a balanced life look so easy. She has a successful career, a happy marriage, and beautiful kids. But having it all is far from effortless. While Teigen is able to juggle her many commitments, she has been very transparent about how much help it takes to do so. "My mom lives with us," she told Yahoo! Style. "I have hair and makeup people. I'm not getting up and doing all this by myself. If I'm not being done for something, I'm not going anywhere. A lot of hands go into it. We have help. It's important for people to know that.

Teigen went on to praise moms who keep things together without a staff of people pitching in. "I have the utmost respect for mothers and single mothers who go to work and come home and make dinner," she said. "I do all these things because I have help."

She may be a glamorous supermodel who wows on the runway and the red carpet, but Chrissy Teigen is far from a diva. Like most of us, she's totally comfortable chilling at home in loungewear and keeping it casual. Aside from work commitments, Teigen doesn't really get out too much. "I don't go anywhere," she told Yahoo! Style. "We have people over. We watch movies. Or eat dinner. They don't wear a smidge of makeup. They don't have to be put together. We're gonna be very relaxed, and we'll have fun, and no one will give a s***."

Even when she does get glammed up, Chrissy Teigen doesn't find it fun. "I hate it," she said of getting ready for a big event. "I hate sitting in that chair. It's painful to me. If I could choose my day, it would be waking up and putting on a face mask and making my skin clean and spending time with my daughter. There's not much else I care to do."

Chrissy Teigen may know how to whip up a gourmet meal, but that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy the type of food those of us who are less skilled in the kitchen eat. She's a big fan of McDonald's. Her love for McDonald's goes far, far beyond having the occasional Big Mac. She loves McDonald's so much that her pal, Kim Kardashian, threw her a baby shower with catered with McDonald's foods (via E! News).

Teigen's passion for McDonald's led to her appearing in a McDonald's ad campaign promoting a partnership between the burger franchise and Uber. She got the gig by accidentally catching the attention of McDonald's. "I think [McDonald's] saw me," she told Mashable. "I was wearing a Big Mac pajama set that was just randomly sent to me, and I think I put that on my social media."

Chrissy Teigen added, "They know that I'm an obvious fan too... There's a lot of McDonalds in my life." Sounds like Teigen doesn't really care what happens to your body when you eat fast food — but chances are she doesn't eat McDonald's all day, every day.

After giving birth to her daughter, Luna, Chrissy Teigen experienced symptoms of postpartum depression. For months, she kept her suffering to herself, preventing her from getting a diagnosis. "I couldn't figure out why I was so unhappy," she wrote for Glamour a year after daughter Luna's birth.

Chrissy Teigen was eventually diagnosed with postpartum depression and anxiety and started taking an antidepressant. The model decided to share her journey with others to help destigmatize postpartum depression. "I'm speaking up now because I want people to know it can happen to anybody and I don't want people who have it to feel embarrassed or to feel alone," she wrote. "I also don't want to pretend like I know everything about postpartum depression, because it can be different for everybody." She continued, "But one thing I do know is that — for me — just merely being open about it helps."