Chrissy Teigen is mourning a big change in her life.
During a Tuesday, January 23, appearance on Sirius XM’s TODAY radio show The Happy Hour, Chrissy, 38, revealed that her mom, Vilailuck “Pepper” Teigen, recently moved back to Thailand.
“We miss her. So much. She’s only been gone for a couple of weeks, but you feel the void,” Chrissy said.
While it’s hard to say goodbye, Chrissy noted that her mom is “young enough that she needs to go off and be happy” and is “meant to go live her best life.”
Pepper previously lived with Chrissy to help provide childcare for her and husband John Legend’s four children: daughters Luna, 7, and Esti, 12 months, and sons Miles, 5, and Wren, 7 months.
“She obviously loves taking care of her grandchildren,” Chrissy said of Pepper before explaining how much her mom left behind when she moved from Thailand to the United States.
“She has a group of girlfriends out there that she just, she changes, she lights up when she sees them,” the model explained. “I wasn’t seeing her light up as much without them. And she needs to go find love and find, you know, whatever she wants. She pretends that she doesn’t care about that kind of stuff, and she just cares about her grandbabies and her friends, but I wanted that for her.”
Chrissy, who plans to visit her mom with Legend, 45, and their kids “every spring break,” admitted that the change didn’t really “hit” her until right before her mom left.
“I had not shed a tear. I was really excited for her. And then I heard ’30 minutes till your car gets here’ and then I just lost it,” she recalled. “I believe that there’s a spiritual and physical connection [with mothers]. And I felt it in my bones when she left, I really did.”
Chrissy is also adjusting to the reality of parenting without Pepper’s help.
“I truly haven’t really been on my own,” she confessed. “It’s weird waking up and going, ‘Oh, my God, I got four kids, and mom’s not here.’ And, of course, we have help, but there’s nobody like your mother.”
Although Chrissy said that she hadn’t “really told the world or the internet” about her mom’s move yet, Pepper has begun sharing photos of her life in Thailand via social media.
On Thursday, January 25, she shared a series of Instagram photos with the geotag Korat, Thailand.
“Home sweet home ❤️❤️❤️,” one commenter wrote.
