Chrissy Teigen bullying scandal: Michael Costello reveals he was suicidal after model's taunts
Michael Costello, a fashion designer, has stepped forward to share his story after being bullied by Chrissy Teigen. In a series of photos on Instagram, Costello outlined how his career has been suffering since 2014 after Teigen called him "racist" and threatened brands against working with him.
Teigen has been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism lately. In February, she was slammed for her "tone deaf" tweet about her mother's spending habits. Then in May, Macy's dropped her line of cookware products after she apologized to Courtney Stodden. That came after it was revealed that Stodden was also bullied by Teigen, who asked the model "to kill" herself.
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While Teigen quit Twitter claiming "negativity", it appears as if she has been a major source of negativity for others. Costello is just the latest to bring his story to light, he even shared screenshots of messages he sent to Teigen and her shocking replies.
Who is Michael Costello?
Costello is a fashion designer and TV personality, best known for making custom pieces. Born in Los Angeles, Costello moved to Palm Springs to open his first store. He started drawing as a two-year-old and eventually got so into it that his father encouraged him to open up his own store. "My dad saw this abandoned store, 286 N. Palm Canyon Drive across from the Hyatt, upstairs… and he said, 'Let's open you up a fashion store. You make your dresses, we’ll sell them, and we’ll make millions of dollars'," he told SDGLN.com.
So at 15, Costello dropped out of school and moved to Palm Springs, and began making clothes. "It was my first shot at manufacturing, and I was paying a really high price because I didn’t really know enough about the business, and at that time I didn’t know how to make my own pieces," he said. He provided the sketches, and a local manufacturing company put them together. Eventually, he got the attention of Hollywood's elite — Céline Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Toni Braxton, Florence Henderson, and more.
In 2014, he garnered national attention for designing Beyonce's Grammy's gown. Since then, he has regularly designed for Beyonce. He made headlines again in 2018 when he designed a dress and matching hat for Cardi B, which she wore at Paris Fashion Week. He eventually ended up working with Kylie Jenner, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minhaj. "Seeing her at the party will forever go down as one of my favorite moments of all time," he once said after a party with Lady Gaga. Costello has also appeared on 'Project Runaways', 'Good Morning America', and numerous other shows.
His success led him to received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 2017. But despite those achievements, Costello was battling depression and suicidal thoughts, after Teigen called him out publicly in 2014 over a comment that was proven to be fake.
Teigen said 'you deserve to suffer and die'
In 2014, a photoshopped comment began going around the internet, in Costello's name. While the designer managed to have it taken down, Tiegen spotted it before that happened. She then publicly called Costello racist. "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 in his post. When Costello reached out to Teigen to tell her it was fake, "she told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on".
He said that Teigen and noted stylist Monica Rose had "gone 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." As a result, over the next few years, Costello claims he has been repeatedly pulled from jobs "with no explanation". Subsequently, Costello claims he wanted to kill himself. "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, I was also getting blocklisted in real life."
"As a result of what Chrissy Teigen did to me in 2014, I am not okay. I may never be okay, but today, I am choosing to speak my truth," he added. He also attached a text exchange with Teigen in the post. In those texts, Teigen says, "good! racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead." It's unclear as of now if Teigen or Rose have reached out to Costello. Teigen did write a lengthy apology on Medium, and claimed she was "in the process of privately reaching out to the people I insulted." Costello's revelation came after that post was put out, so it doesn't seem like she has yet.