Leona Lewis calls out Michael Costello on Chrissy Teigen bullying accusations
In the latest response to the ongoing Teigen drama, British singer Leona Lewis says Costello was a bully himself
Though designer Michael Costello says Chrissy Teigen’s bullying reduced him to tears and made him consider suicide, now U.K. singer Leona Lewis says he’s no one to talk.
She says Costello bullied HER when she didn’t fit into one of his dresses as she wasn’t a “model size.” The “Bleeding Love” singer says in 2014, Costello made her feel “deeply upset” after a dress fitting.
“As an excited young woman, I flew all the way to New York and was so honored to work with him because I adored his dresses,” Lewis shared in a multi-part Instagram Stories post.
“When I got to my fitting I was made to feel very awkward and uncomfortable as the dress was a sample size and he/his team clearly did not want to alter it to fit me,” Lewis wrote. “This came as a total surprise because weeks prior I was told that they would make the dress work for me.”
She goes on to say that she did not end up wearing the dress to a charity event as Costello didn’t show up for a final fitting. She says she felt humiliated trying to explain to the media why she was pulled from the show and that the experience exacerbated her own body insecurities.
But she also says that she felt compelled to say something in light of Costello sharing his experience with Teigen.
“I’m not discounting Michael’s experience as that is an awful thing to go through and I wish him so much love and healing,” Lewis continued.
“I’m sure this will come as a shock as I never told him how this made me feel. But the pot calling the kettle black in this situation doesn’t sit right with me. Bullying comes in many different forms. We need love, we need accountability, we need forgiveness, none of us are perfect.”
Costello told TMZ that Teigen tried to get him blacklisted in the industry but that he has no ill feelings toward her, despite the fact he says that she and her stylist, Monica Rose, kept him from working with various brands, reports CNN.
The actress/model and TV personality is in the hot seat for online bullying, per TMZ on Tuesday.
“I want to be clear — I do not wish ill on anyone,” Costello said. “We are all works in progress and we deserve the opportunity to prove that we can do better. But progress takes time. We must show through actions that we have changed. After all, action speaks much louder than a 10-minute apology written on a notepad,” said the designer.
Costello said Teigen bullied him to the point where he considered taking his own life. He claims she fueled a years-long campaign in hopes of getting him blacklisted after he was accused of calling a Black woman the N-word, something he denies and says was fabricated on social media.
Despite the drama, Costello wants to clear the air.
He added: “Nothing takes away from the years of trauma being bullied and blacklisted in the industry has left me. I am not out for revenge. I only wish to only speak my truth because I have been silenced for so long.”
As reported by theGrio, the designer said he is still “traumatized, depressed, and (has) thoughts of suicide” after the 2014 incident.
Teigen issued a lengthy statement on her Instagram and in a Medium essay, where she apologized for her bullying past as a self-proclaimed “internet troll.”
Noting “a VERY humbling few weeks,” Teigen told friends and followers, “I know I’ve been quiet, and lord knows you don’t want to hear about me, but I want you to know I’ve been sitting in a hole of deserved global punishment, the ultimate ‘sit here and think about what you’ve done.’”
“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,” she continued. “As you know, a bunch of my old awful (awful, awful) tweets resurfaced. 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?”
Teigen says she has apologized to one person, model Courtney Stodden, who now uses them/they pronouns. Stodden said Teigen sent them a message telling them to kill themself after they married a 50-year-old man at the age of 16.
Teigen issued a public apology to Stodden in May, but Stodden claims the star never reached out to them privately.
“There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets. My targets didn’t deserve them. No one does. Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding, and support, not my meanness masquerading as a kind of casual, edgy humor,” Teigen wrote Monday. “I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.”
Additional reporting by Biba Adams
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