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Courtney Stodden is revealing how Chrissy Teigen deeply affected them during a very vulnerable time.
Back in 2021, old tweets and even DMs exposed how Teigen had sent a barrage of hateful comments, including death wishes, to the (now former) child bride.
Teigen has apologized. She has since gone on a sobriety journey.
But an apology does not change the past. And this cyberbullying was part of what led Courtney Stodden to contemplate suicide.
Courtney Stodden became famous as a teen bride to a man in his 50s
In Hulu’s Impact x Nightline: Confessions of a Child Bride, Courtney Stodden delved into their rise to fame as a 16-year-old married to a 51-year-old actor.
As her notoriety increased, so did the backlash. Unfortunately, much of that backlash went after Stodden instead of after the man whom they have described as grooming them as a teen.
Chrissy Teigen has urged people to return to keeping hateful opinions to themselves. She’s right. But unfortunately, over a dozen years ago, she needed that advice herself.
During this recent interview, Courtney Stodden recalled the hateful messages from Chrissy Teigen.
“I know she’s saying it was from alcohol or whatever she wanted to say it was from,” they acknowledged.
On top of other trolls and being a child bride, Stodden called the insults from the erstwhile “queen of Twitter” simply “so much” to deal with.
Having Chrissy Teigen as a bully made things harder for Courtney Stodden
“I did actually almost succeed at committing suicide because of — this was a huge part of it,” Courtney Stodden recalled of the time when Chrissy Teigen was expressing a desire for them to die.
“I had a suicide letter written.”
She continued: “I remember my last thought was, you know, ‘Maybe I don’t deserve to be here when people that high up are telling me I don’t deserve to be here.’”
That is heartbreaking and devastating. And while we are sure that Chrissy Teigen’s apology is sincere, unfortunately apologies cannot change the effect that she once had upon Courtney Stodden at such a vulnerable time.
On the positive side, Chrissy Teigen has shared how the ugly scandal in 2021 helped to shape her into a better person. That’s something.
Many of us have seen old social media posts that we regret. That could range from bad jokes to body-negativity to, most frequently, a then-normal post in 2010 that in 2018 read like the cringiest of Boomer posts. It happens!
What matters most is how we use the knowledge of our former posts. We can all choose to become better people than we once more. But it cannot undo harm done in years past.
Fortunately, neither of them are where they were in 2011
In addition to inadvertently helping Chrissy Teigen on her self-improvement journey, Courtney Stodden has helped other people.
They have helped, by example, to raise awareness of the harm of child brides. She also came out as nonbinary (and shared in 2022 that they use both “she” and “they” pronouns, not unlike Demi Lovato), helping to inspire others to live as themselves.
We’re big fans of Courtney Stodden. They’ve been through so much, and it’s good that they’re telling their survivor story.
