An Open Letter to Chrissy Teigen.
Dear Chrissy Teigen,
You have always been a hot topic, causing a lot of debate online with your statements, behavior, and quirky and sometimes dark sense of humor. You have definitely made the wrong calls before, but unlike most celebs when they’re called out on their bullshit, you owned it, apologized, and then SHOWED GROWTH.
You always show a willingness for growth and learning that impresses me. You could easily say sorry in a blanket statement to TMZ or People Magazine, then use your clout and fame to never have to address it again. But that isn’t you. You seem genuine and open, as evidenced by your social media posts where you admit to surgeries, filters, flaws, and anything else we’ve come to expect to be smoke and mirrors.
During all of your openness, though, you make no bones about not giving a fuck when people disagree with you. You are a shining example of self-awareness and self-confidence (whether you always feel that or not). When you are expressing insecurities, you’re still displaying incredible bravery that people won’t turn them against you- or that you won’t allow what people say to wound you- either way, it’s hugely admirable.
You caused a wave of miscarriage stories among Hollywood that women are grateful for the world over. Ridiculously, we’re still supposed to suppress this horrendous, heartbreaking event that happens to so many of us, and you ripped the lid right off it. As gut-wrenching as that experience is, you refused to allow it to be a lonely process and embraced that there was a community of women that could empathize. While it still feels a far reach to expect miscarriage to be a completely normalized conversation in this decade, because of you it’s at least a topic on the table instead of swept under the rug.
All in all, Chrissy, you’re a Legend, and not just by marriage. You very publicly stumble and fall, but you very publicly get back up and dust yourself off, something not everyone can do or will do. So much about what makes a good person isn’t that they never mess up, but that they correct themselves with humility and stride, and you certainly do that well.
With admiration and thanks,
Rebecca Timberlake