Fashion designer Michael Costello reveals he's still 'traumatized' over Chrissy Teigen's past bullying

The fashion designer took to social media to share his story

Michael Costello attends the American Influencer Award at The Novo by Microsoft on November 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
(Image credit: Greg Doherty/Getty Images)

Fashion designer Michael Costello has joined the growing list of people who say they were cyberbullied by Chrissy Teigen.

The designer opened up on social media about the emotional impact Chrissy's behavior had on him, saying he's still "traumatized, depressed, and has thoughts of suicide" nearly seven years since the original interaction occurred.

On his Instagram, he spoke about the fear he had around sharing his story, feeling it could have threatened professional relationships and worries about being blacklisted by the fashion industry.

"You do not have to say anything mean or hurtful about them in the comments. I am trying every day to love myself and forget this happen. This is step one," he wrote. 

He described how, back in 2014, he received a public comment from the model accusing him of being a racist. He claimed that Chrissy had seen a fake comment that was photoshopped to look as though he posted it. Michael claimed that the photo was doctored by a "former disgruntled employee" in an attempt to embarrass him.

"When I reached out to Chrissy Teigen to communicate that I was the victim of a vindictive cyber slander, and that everything she thought I was is not who I am, she told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on," he wrote. 

As a result, Michael claims he has been living with "deep, unhealed trauma" and has often had suicidal thoughts.

"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 powers to close doors with a single text," he continued.

This comes a week after Courtney Stodden called Chrissy Teigen out for what they labeled as "hypocritical" behavior. Back in May, Chrissy quit Twitter after online abuse, which pushed Courtney to take to social media to call out the star for her cyberbullying past. Since then, Chrissy has issued an apology saying she's ashamed of her cyberbullying past and branding herself a "troll."

"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 wrote in a post.

Many outlets have labeled this as Chrissy's "fall from grace" and as more stars come forward with allegations. We think it shows how today's society has a low tolerance for bullying of any kind. 

Rylee Johnston

Rylee is a U.S. news writer who previously worked for woman&home and My Imperfect Life covering lifestyle, celebrity, and fashion news. Before joining woman&home and My Imperfect Life, Rylee studied journalism at Hofstra University where she explored her interests in world politics and magazine writing. From there, she dabbled in freelance writing covering fashion and beauty e-commerce for outlets such as the TODAY show, American Spa Magazine, First for Women, and Woman’s World.