The Stunning Transformation Of Chrissy Teigen

Who doesn't love Chrissy Teigen? The model, chef, and influencer is well known for being a total open book on social media, as well as one of the most relatable celebs out there. Additionally, her marriage to EGOT-winning John Legend is the stuff that #RelationshipGoals are made of. Add to that the couple's adorable children and ever-present pets, and it's impossible not to smile when you think of their family.

While Teigen has made quite the name for herself on television, thanks to her gig as a commentator on the popular show Lip Sync Battle, Teigen isn't the child of Hollywood royalty. Rather, Teigen's origin story is just as relatable as her Instagram feed, as she was born in Utah to non-famous parents. So while she's graced the pages of the Sports Illustrated famed Swimsuit Issue plenty of times, Teigen really is just like the rest of us. At least, it certainly seems that way!

Wonder what Teigen was like before all the fame? Read on to see for yourself the stunning transformation of Chrissy Teigen.

Of course, Chrissy Teigen wouldn't be here had her parents, Ron Teigen Sr. and Vilailuck "Pepper" Teigen, not fallen in love with one another. Her American-born father of Norwegian decent met Chrissy's mother in Korat, Thailand, according to Vanity Fair. After meeting, Ron brought Chrissy's mother and older half-sister back to his trailer in the States. Chrissy was later born in Delta, Utah on Nov. 30, 1985. After that, the Teigens relocated to Snohomish, Wash., where they operated a tavern by the name of Porky's. Talk about salt of the earth!

Fans of Chrissy are familiar with her mother, who often makes appearances on her Instagram page, given that she lives with Teigen and her family in their posh California home. Interestingly enough, it was at Porky's that Chrissy's mother got her famous nickname, Pepper Thai, as she was known for eating spicy peppers in the back of the tavern.

While Chrissy's parents filed for divorce in 2019, she's is on good terms with both of them, as noted by People.

By all accounts, Chrissy Teigen had a pretty normal childhood growing up in Snohomish. Notably, she was a cheerleader, though she's the first person to admit she wasn't very good at it. "Truly no idea how I made this team," she revealed in an Instagram post. "The best part is they claimed there was no JV/varsity but one squad got to cheer for basketball and football and the other (mine) got volleyball and wrestling." She added that she still remembers her cheers to this day, despite not being a cheer pro.

Additionally, Teigen struggled with mental health issues from the start, something with which her social media followers are already quite familiar. "I was an anxious, nervous kid," she recalled in an interview with Glamour UK. "That transferred into being anxious in high school and then right after, when I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life." That honestly sounds like it could be anyone's story, given how much that struggle is real.

While Chrissy Teigen's upbringing was safe and relatively happy, her family did deal with crises when she was only 15 years old. According to Vanity Fair, that's when Vilailuck Teigen flew back to Thailand to take care of her father, who was suffering from lung cancer. Sadly, he succumbed to the disease, choking to death — right in front of his daughter, which couldn't have been easy to see.

Tragedy struck again three months later, when Vilailuck's mother was killed in a freak train accident. After that, Vilailuck sank into a deep depression and refused to leave her room for several months. 

While Vilailuck eventually found work teaching English to Thai children, her daughters back in the states were clearly upset, and they didn't want to talk to her on the phone. To that end, she mailed noodles to her daughters in an effort to show them love. And while she did return to the States in time, that period in the Teigen family history will always be remembered as a difficult one.

In an effort to cheer up Chrissy Teigen and her sister, their father moved the family to Huntington Beach just before her junior year in high school, as noted by Vanity Fair. When they arrived, Teigen shaved her eyebrows, dyed her hair black, and got two jobs. As fate would have it, one of them was working at a surf shop, where she was discovered by a photographer. Thus, Teigen's modeling career was born.

Teigen landed a campaign for Billabong, and she eventually found herself on the cover of the Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue. However, as Teigen tells it, her modeling days were consumed by scrutiny. "That was my entire career, doing weigh-ins," she explained in a chat with Glamour UK. "With model agencies, it was normal to get measured too, and I did it myself mainly, so when you had direct bookings without castings, [the clients] knew what they were getting." She added that she was thrown off a job three times for her size, which is insane!

Fate struck again when the photographer who discovered Teigen showed her snaps to John Legend while working on the music video for "Stereo." The rest is history.

Indeed, it was on the set of "Stereo" that Chrissy Teigen met John Legend for the first time — and you can see the chemistry between them in the video. As Legend tells it, they started dating, and things got serious pretty quickly. "She just entertained the hell out of me, texting me," he told Vanity Fair. "What people respond to in her tweets today was the same energy in those texts." He added that he didn't realize he wanted to marry someone who was funny until he was with Teigen.

After years of dating, on Sept. 14, 2013, Teigen and Legend tied the knot; they said their "I dos" in a lavish, star-studded wedding in Italy, as noted by Brides. And since then, the couple have proven time and time again to be #RelationshipGoals. "I've been nourished by watching them," said film director Ava DuVernay, who's also their friend. "It's just beautiful to see a real melding of their family life — their home life, those moments they curate with their children — side by side with real activist commentary."

One of the best things about Chrissy Teigen is her presence on social media, which is arguably what's made her so famous. Fans love her for a variety of reasons, including her candor, her lack of a filter, and her ability to be serious when the situation calls for it. It's for this reason that many people feel like they know Teigen on a personal level, as she's an open book about everything, seemingly all the time.

To that end, it's no wonder that Teigen has millions of followers on Instagram and Twitter. As summed by none other than Kim Kardashian, "Chrissy is real and authentic," as she revealed to Vogue. "She's so open and honest with her audience," Kardashian continued. "She also has the best sense of humor."

Of course, Teigen is the first to admit she sometimes cares too much what people think of her. "I'll read a thousand of the sweetest comments — 'You have the cutest family, I love your book' — and then one person is like, 'You look like the Bride of Chucky' and I'll be like, 'Oh my God, @paulh7114620 thinks I look like Chucky.'" LOL!

After Chrissy Teigen and John Legend got married, it was only natural that they decided to start a family together. However, the couple struggled with fertility issues (which, of course, Teigen was open about), and they turned to IVF to try and get pregnant. However, according to Teigen, that wasn't exactly a magic bullet, at least not initially. "Ours didn't work the first time, and it was devastating," she recalled in an interview with The Cut. "You realize that a lot of it is luck, and you can't blame things on yourself." She added that, of course, there's no right or wrong way to do IVF, so any blame serves no purpose.

Eventually, Teigen and Legend welcomed Luna Simone Stephens (in 2016) and Miles Theodore Stephens (in 2018) into the world, thanks to IVF. "It's a complete miracle when it works," Teigen continued. "There are so many people that still struggle, even with access to IVF."

Teigen posts adorable snaps of her little ones on Instagram all the time, and they are as perfect as you'd imagine.

While Chrissy Teigen was overjoyed to get pregnant and eventually become a mother, three months after the birth of her daughter, Teigen began to feel down — really, really down. "It was a sad existence," she confessed to Glamour UK. "There were no highs. It was a flatline of life for a few months." That sounds awful!

As it turned out, Teigen was suffering from postpartum depression, which she says was obvious to everyone but her. "John was there when the doctor gave the diagnosis and, of course, he already knew," she continued. "I didn't know it could sneak up so late or that it could happen to someone like me, where I have all the resources." Truly it can happen to anyone, and Teigen is proof.

Fortunately Teigen was able to get the help she needed, and she made it out of that difficult period in her life. She also knew exactly what to look out for when she had her second child two years later, which brought her comfort. 

In addition to being model gorgeous and one of America's favorite wives and mothers, Chrissy Teigen is also a huge fan of cooking. "Being in the kitchen and on my feet, getting to move around is a way to make me feel part of life again," she explained in a chat with Glamour UK. "It brings you back down to earth." She added that no matter who you are, you're still going to burn something once in a while. #Facts.

To that end, Teigen published her first cookbook in 2016, Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat; she followed that up with Cravings: Hungry for More in 2018. Then in 2019, she launched Cravings By Chrissy, a website where she shares her favorite recipes and interacts with fans. She also has a product line at Target, as well as her own production company and a cooking show on Hulu, according to Marie Claire.

On top of her flourishing food empire, Teigen has led the Quibi show Chrissy's Court and has been a commentator on the popular TV show Lip Sync Battle since 2015, as noted by Esquire. Talk about multi-talented!

Just because Chrissy Teigen is rich and famous doesn't means she's resting on her laurels when it comes to making the world a better place. In addition to sharing her outspoken political views on social media, Teigen has made sure that both of her companies, Cravings and Suit & Thai, are 100 percent staffed by women. She even has an inclusivity rider attached to her Hulu deal, which ensures that their production team includes "more women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals so that the overall production team better reflects the broader community." We are 100 percent here for this!

As Teigen tells it, when she made her demands for diverse hiring a priority, Hulu was on board from the beginning. "They didn't question it," she shared in an interview with Marie Claire. "The rooms on every show I work on will always look like this. I want to see women in power positions that men have held captive for so long."

For many, many years, Chrissy Teigen worked hard to be a swimsuit model, maintaining a super slender body. "I used to weigh myself every morning, afternoon and night," she confessed in a chat with Glamour UK, adding, "I did that for eight years and had this one weight I wanted to be at." But since she had children, naturally, that number has changed.

Fortunately, Teigen has come to accept her new normal. And while she does notice the changes in the shower now and again, she's at peace with where she is. "I don't take the aesthetics so seriously now," she continued. "It's very fulfilling not having that pressure of putting on a swimsuit and looking good for a magazine while running around a beach, which I did when I was modeling." She added that she just doesn't have the time anymore to be mad at herself over her body, which is pretty darn great if you ask us!

If there's one thing you can say about 2020, it's that plenty of folks have had time to look within themselves and make some improvements where they can. That was certainly the case for Chrissy Teigen, who took a big step with her mental health, and it has been amazing for her. "I didn't start therapy until quarantine," she revealed to Marie Claire. "I used to avoid it and make fun of the idea of it, and then I found the right person and it changed my world."

Additionally, while Teigen is known for being super active on social media, she's dialed that back in order to focus on herself more. "I'm barely online anymore, and that was at the request of my therapist," she continued, noting, "It's good for me to take a break."

While Teigen does feel a bit selfish stepping back from the internet, as issues like racial justice are seemingly more important than ever, she knows she's doing what's best for her.

Another way that Chrissy Teigen's body has changed over the years has to do with cosmetic surgery. Notably, in 2020, Teigen had breast reduction surgery to remove her implants, as she felt it was simply time for them to go. "They've been great to me for many years but I'm just over it," she revealed in a tweet. "I'd like to be able to zip a dress in my size, lay on my belly with pure comfort!"

What Teigen didn't know was that when she had the reduction done, she was pregnant with her third child, as the pregnancy test she took beforehand had been negative. But then? "A few weeks after surgery, I took a test," she shared in another tweet. "For many years now, I've taken pregnancy tests almost every month, praying to see a positive one day." This time she did, lo and behold, Teigen had become pregnant naturally.

Chrissy Teigen once again experienced tragedy when she lost her third child at 20 weeks. This was after Teigen had been on bedrest, as she'd been diagnosed with partial placenta abruption. Naturally, Teigen and her family were absolutely devastated when she found out little Jack wasn't going to make it. "I cried a little at first, then went into full blown convulsions of snot and tears, my breath not able to catch up with my own incredibly deep sadness," she mourned in a post on Medium. We're so sorry for your loss, Chrissy.

For as painful as this loss was for Teigen, she wrote that she was comforted by strangers who'd been through similar tribulations. "The moments of kindness have been nothing short of beautiful," she continued, sharing that strangers have given her notes and flowers to bring her solace.

While Teigen and her family are moving on with life as best as they can, they'll always love Jack, even if he didn't make it into the world. And despite everything, Teigen says she still feels lucky for all that she has.