Yahoo Finance Michael Costello says Chrissy Teigen’s alleged bullying made him want to kill himself
Designer Michael Costello has opened up about feeling “traumatised, depressed” and having “thoughts of suicide” after alleged bullying by Chrissy Teigen.
“For the past seven years, I’ve lived with a deep, unhealed trauma,” the fashion designer, 38, wrote in an Instagram post, admitting that he was scared of sharing his experience with anyone for fear of losing his most profitable relationships, friends, and allies, and “of being blacklisted even more by the power elites who run the industry”.
Costello referenced an alleged 2014 comment by Teigen in which the model had called the designer “racist” for using the n-word.
“She apparently formed her own opinion of me based on a photoshopped comment floating around the internet which has now been proven to be false by Instagram and since taken down,” he said. “When I reached out to Chrissy Teigen to communicate that I was the victim of a vindictive cyber slander and that everything she thought I was is not who I am, she told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on.”
He also claimed that for the next few years, he was pulled off jobs at the last minute and had mutual friends telling him that Teigen and her stylist Monica Rose are going “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”.
“Each time I have pleaded with Chrissy Teigen or Monica Rose to see the whole story before believing a false narrative a former disgruntled employee cast upon me, they didn’t give me the time of day,” he wrote.
The designer admitted that due to this incident, he thought about “wanting to kill” himself. He wrote: “I didn’t see the point of living.”
“There was no way I can ever escape from being the target of the powerful elites in Hollywood, who actually do have the powers to close doors with a single text,” he wrote. “Not only was I the target of cyber defamation, but I was also getting blocklisted in real life.”
Costello claimed that he penned a letter to his “family and closest friends because I thought taking my own life would be the best way out”.
“No matter what I did, I could not escape the false narrative Chrissy Teigen, Monica Rose and their friends believed in,” he added.
The designer’s post also consisted of screengrabs of his past conversations with Teigen. One of the messages reads: “Racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead. Your career is over, just watch.”
This isn’t the first time Teigen has faced allegations of online bullying.
She recently apologised to model Courtney Stodden for messages she had sent when Stodden was a teenager.
“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,” Teigen wrote on Twitter.
Teigen described how “a bunch of my old awful (awful, awful) tweets resurfaced”, adding: “I’m truly ashamed of them. As I look at them and understand the hurt they caused, I have to stop and wonder: How could I have done that?”
Hi again https://t.co/vtAHcVLWNA
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) June 14, 2021
Without naming anyone specifically, she noted she has apologised to “one person, but there are others – and more than just a few – who I need to say I’m sorry to”, and said she’s in the process of getting in touch with them.
You can find helpful tips on how to start a conversation, or if you are worried about someone else, on Samaritans website. You can contact the Samaritans helpline by calling 116 123. The helpline is free and open 24 hours a day every day of the year. You can also contact Samaritans by emailing jo@samaritans.org. The average response time is 24 hours.
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