Designer Michael Costello Says He Is ‘Traumatized’ After Being ‘Bullied’ By Chrissy Teigen
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Project Runway star Michael Costello has said he was left suicidal after being harassed online by Chrissy Teigen, who he claims told him he deserved to ‘suffer and die.’
The designer alleged the model attempted to get him ‘blacklisted’ from Hollywood after accusing him of using a racial slur in 2014, and subjected him to years of bullying that left him ‘traumatised’ and suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.
Costello said he was coming forward with the allegations in an attempt to ‘heal,’ writing on Instagram, ‘For the past 7 years I’ve lived with a deep, unhealed trauma. I didn’t share this with anyone because I was living in fear.’
He claimed that Teigen, along with fellow stylist Monica Rose, accused him of being racist based on a photoshopped post that he says Instagram has since confirmed was false. Costello went on to allege that, despite several attempts to convince the pair he was not racist and that the message was fake, Teigen continued to harass him online, and targeted him in his professional life too.
In the post, Costello also shared what he claimed to be a screenshot of a message conversation between him and Teigen, in which he sent his number and asked her to call him, saying, ‘I am suffering from this more than you can imagine.’ In response, Teigen allegedly replied, ‘Good! racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead. Your career is over, just watch.’
Costello said he would be told regularly that Teigen and Rose had ‘gone out of their way’ to threaten people and brands, that they would no longer support them if they worked with the designer, leading him to frequently get dropped from jobs at the last minute.
As a result, Costello said that he has often contemplated taking his own life, believing there to be ‘no way for me to ever escape this.’
‘As a result of what Chrissy Teigen did to me in 2014, I am not okay. I may never be okay,’ he wrote, adding, ‘These bullies could have reached out to me anytime, but they refused. Instead, they would much rather see me suffer and laugh at my demise.’
The allegations come after Teigen yesterday, June 14, apologised in a blog post for past bullying on Twitter, after it emerged last month that she had repeatedly DM’d a then-16-year old model telling them to ‘kill themselves’ in 2012.
‘There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets. My targets didn’t deserve them,’ she wrote. ‘I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.’
Featured Image Credit: michaelcostello/chrissyteigen/instagram
If you’ve been affected by bullying and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Bullying UK (part of Family Lives) on 0808 800 2222. The helpline service is open 9am–9pm Monday to Friday and 10am–3pm Saturday and Sunday.
Topics: Celebrity, Bullying, Chrissy Teigen, Twitter
