Tough blow. Chrissy Teigen took to Twitter on Friday, May 8, shortly after it surfaced that cookbook author Alison Roman shaded her business empire.
“This is a huge bummer and hit me hard. I have made her recipes for years now, bought the cookbooks, supported her on social and praised her in interviews,” Teigen, 34, wrote. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so bummed out by the words of a fellow food-lover. I just had no idea I was perceived that way, by her especially. And Marie, too. Marie is awesome.” (Roman also took a dig at tidying expert Marie Kondo.)
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model added that it was “crappy to deal” with the criticism “all day.”
“I know the actual tears I put into the work I do and it’s really hard to see someone try to completely invalidate it. Someone I really liked,” she continued. “There are many days I cry very hard because cravings, the site, is our baby we love to pump content onto. we do this work ourselves, and there is NO monetary gain yet. it is just work work work and the reward is you liking it. so to be called a sellout….hooooo it hurts. This ‘farm’ you think of doesn’t exist. I am the farm. I am the cows the horses the pigs. anyhow. now that that’s out there, I guess we should probably unfollow each other @alisoneroman.”
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Her husband, John Legend, tweeted in response: “I love what you are building. I love that it comes straight from your heart and your brilliant, creative mind. I’m so proud of you.”
Roman criticized Teigen’s business empire in an interview with New Consumer, which was published on Thursday, May 7. “What Chrissy Teigen has done is so crazy to me. She had a successful cookbook. And then it was like: Boom, line at Target. Boom, now she has an Instagram page that has over a million followers where it’s just, like, people running a content farm for her. That horrifies me and it’s not something that I ever want to do. I don’t aspire to that,” she said. “But like, who’s laughing now? Because she’s making a ton of f–king money.”
The Dining In author later tried to clarify her remarks via Twitter. “When women bully other women for being honest about money and how much they do or do not make, well, thats [sic] amore. Just wishing I had someone to hold my hand during baby’s first internet backlash,” the New York Times columnist wrote. “I am not coming for anyone who’s successful, especially not women. I was trying to clarify that my business model does not include a product line, which work very well for some, but I don’t see working for me.”
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Following Teigen’s reaction, Roman directly tweeted the mother of two. “Hi @chrissyteigen! I sent an email but also wanted to say here that I’m genuinely sorry I caused you pain with what I said. I shouldn’t have used you /your business (or Marie’s!) as an example to show what I wanted for my own career- it was flippant, careless and I’m so sorry,” she wrote. “Being a woman who takes down other women is absolutely not my thing and don’t think it’s yours, either (I obviously failed to effectively communicate that). I hope we can meet one day, I think we’d probably get along.”
