Chrissy Teigen tears into Michael Costello over ‘fake DMs’ as she hits out in lengthy statement

Chrissy Teigen has blasted Michael Costello for sharing ‘fake DMs and screenshots’, in a lengthy statement.

The Project Runway star made headlines earlier this week after he shared messages the Cravings author reportedly sent him on Instagram years ago, stating her attacks caused him to have suicidal thoughts.

After her husband John Legend slammed the DMs as fake, Chrissy has now taken to Twitter herself to issue a response.

‘No idea what the f**k Michael Costello is doing,’ she posted. ‘He just released a statement where he didn’t at ALL acknowledge how fake the dm’s were, & now claims to have emails that don’t exist. 

‘So while he conjures those up (hopefully with someone more talented in fakes this time), here:’

Alongside the post, the star uploaded a lengthy statement across four pages, sharing her ‘surprise and disappointment’ by his actions.

‘Chrissy Teigen very clearly and contritely apologised for insensitive public tweets she made around a decade ago. She did not acknowledge nor apologise for sending private messages directing or encouraging self harm,’ it began.

‘Chrissy is completely surprised and disappointed by Michael Costello’s recent attack, which includes fictional “screenshots” from 2014 of supposed private messages that Chrissy did not send. In October 2014, she did post a comment on Mr Costello’s Instagram when he was publicly accused of making a racist remark.

‘After he denied the accusation, and claimed it was based on a Photoshopped comment, Chrissy deleted the comment, as was reported at the time. Chrissy has never conspired with anyone to harm his career. The stylist he also attacked in his recent comments was not a part of Chrissy’s team until 2016 and did nothing to harm Mr Costello.

‘Until Mr Costello’s recent accusation, Chrissy believed she and Mr Costello had a cordial relationship, as they had friendly online interactions for several years. In one, from 2018, he commented on an Instagram story photo and said her lipstick “looks beautiful”. Another from 2019 said a photo of food “looks amazing”. On January 28, 2019, he asked her: “Are you going to the Grammys?”

‘Over the years, Chrissy suggested her stylists connect with Mr Costello for red carpet events, but ultimately other designers’ work was chosen.’

It continued: ‘When the supposed screenshots from 2014 were originally circulated last week, the name on Chrissy’s account was misspelled. Several media outlets recognised this and chose not to run it, since it was clearly manipulated.

‘This week, the fabricated screenshots were cleaned up with the correct spelling of Chrissy’s social media handle; however, they could not actually be from 2014 because they feature elements that were not a part of the Instagram app in 2014.

‘A closer look at the alleged 2014 screenshots plainly shows that they feature her old profile photo that was changed in 2016, alongside a video chat function that Instagram did not launch until 2018. In addition, the alleged 2014 screenshots also include a colour format which Instagram launched in 2020.

‘The old profile picture and these new Instagram features could not co-exist in the same authentic screenshot. Recent media investigations have confirmed these inconsistencies as well.’

The statement concluded: ‘Chrissy has acknowledged her past behaviour and the pain she has caused, but she will not stand for anyone spreading false accusations to further demean her name and reputation.

‘Chrissy will continue to do the work she needs to do to be the best person she can be. She hopes Michael Costello can do the same. Chrissy has every right to correct the record and defend her name. 

‘She is not interested in making Mr Costello the target or harassment or abuse from anyone claiming to support her. She hopes this can be a time of honest reflection and healing.’

Costello has yet to publicly respond to the post, but a spokesperson for the designer previously insisted that the messages were not fake.

Chrissy found herself at the centre of a trolling scandal earlier this year, after it emerged she sent horrible messages and tweets to Courtney Stodden, when they were just 16-years-old.

The star – who appeared on Project Runway in season eight – then came forward with his own allegations against the mum-of-two, and claimed she tried to sabotage his career believing he’d made a racist slur.

He also released a statement on Instagram claiming Chrissy ‘shut doors’ in his career after believing he had used a racist slur.

Costello alleged he would ‘regularly get texts and calls from our mutual friends and colleagues’ that she and a stylist friend had ‘gone out of their way to threaten people and brands that if they were in any shape or form associated with me, they would not work with any of them.’

He also said he spent many nights wanting to kill himself, and last week, ‘wrote personal letters to my family and closest friends because I thought that taking my own life would be the best way out’.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Michael Costello’s reps for a comment.

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