By Lucy Caulkett-
Representatives for Chrissy Teigen are fighting back by claiming that designer Michael Costello used fake Instagram messages to accuse her of bullying.
Teigen yesterday offered an apology after admitting being a ‘troll’ and an ‘a**hole’ in the past in a post shared this week, after which Costello took to Instagram to share screenshots of his alleged conversation with the model. The celebrity who is married to John Legend, expressed remorse earlier in the week, when she issued a statement apologizing for her actions, telling fans: “Not a day, not a single moment has passed where I haven’t felt the crushing weight of regret for the things I’ve said in the past.”
And Tiegen was repeatedly slammed by Piers Morgan on Thursday, who described her as despicable and a sham’.
Costello, who rose to fame through his appearance on season eight of Project Runway, shared messages that he claimed were from Teigen in the wake of backlash she is facing for old tweets she has since described as ‘awful’.
The designer said Teigen called him ‘a racist’ over a ‘photoshopped comment… which has now been proven to be false’, but that she responded to say his ‘career was over’ when he attempted to explain himself.
Although the screenshots appeared to show messages from Teigen, an investigation by Insider found ‘technical inconsistencies’ that could suggest the images have been manipulated.
The news outlet pointed out several visual identifiers ‘appear to come from various iterations of Instagram and Teigen’s profile throughout the years,’ which could signify manipulated images.
Most notable among the alleged inconsistencies is the fact Teigen’s Instagram account is not verified in the screenshots, with the lack of a blue tick next to her name. Teigen was verified by early 2015, indicating the screenshot was taken in 2014. However the messages have the purple and blue backgrounds which weren’t implemented on Instagram until February 2020.
A team representative for Teigen told the outlet the direct messages have been faked, though Teigen herself has not commented on the matter.
In keeping with its misinformation policy Instagram uses third-party fact-checkers to identify, review, and label false information, however it does not remove false information.
Alongside the screenshots, Costello wrote that in the wake of the exchange he considered taking his own life as he believed he could not ‘escape from the powerful elites in Hollywood.’
The designer’s post came after Courtney Stodden accused Teigen of bullying, prompting Teigen to apologise and say she was both ‘mortified and sad’ at who she ‘used to be.’