Chrissy Teigen covers the latest issue of Good Housekeeping, basically to promote her personal brand – being Mrs. John Legend, being a “personality” and a cookbook author, etc. I know a lot of people are always going to support Chrissy no matter what, but as I’ve said before, she’s one of those people I can only take in small doses. I find her unbearably extra. Weirdly(or not), her extra-ness makes her a very good interview, because she spills her guts about everything and it’s interesting. You can read the full Good Housekeeping cover story here. Some highlights:
On being an introvert and a homebody: “It sounds weird to say, but I really am an introvert. Luna’s just two and a half now and bringing out so much of my personality that I was too anxious to share in the outside world before, so I get to be goofy; I get to be silly. We are all very much homebodies. I’m not the type to meet a friend for lunch; I’m only comfortable in my home.”
On fueling her body through food and fitness: “I think now I understand that food is so emotional for me, so I need to realize that if I put good things in my body, I’m probably going to have a better day the next day. Working out, to me, has never been about losing weight, it’s always been a mood thing, and it always, always helps my mood, so to be able to get back in that routine would be great.”
On learning body acceptance: “Every morning when I look at myself in the mirror, I’m like, “Oh my gosh, how did it get here? My baby was, like, four pounds and I gained, like, sixty pounds, and that seems off!”…But, you know, I think everyone’s body is just really different. That’s why, my posts of real mom sh-t, and wearing the diaper, and having that mesh thing, and real postpartum business? I think as important as it is for people to see me do that, it’s also really important for me.”
On accepting her body’s new normal: “I think, in a way, we’ve forgotten what a regular body looks like. There are people out there who are struggling and I’m struggling, and it’s okay to come to terms with that being okay, to realize that it’s gonna be a bit of a journey…It’s all about trying to be happy with myself. Because I’m not blind: I see my body, I see the difference in shape, I see that I gained weight. But I also see with those same eyes that I have a beautiful baby boy, and this little girl that’s relentless and amazing, and I am very happy…This is a new thing that I can change within my mind, that I don’t have to be swimsuit model anymore. I get to be a mommy, and I get to cook, and I get to meet incredible people, and I’m happy to be going through this transition.”
It’s been so long since I’ve heard a celebrity woman talk about her relationship to food being “emotional” that I sometimes forget that duh, there are more of us out there. I am an emotional eater too, in that my emotions dictate my hunger and what I “allow” myself. Last summer, I got very upset for weeks on end with the state of this country – I was sad, anxious and angry all the time, and I ate so much. I’m like Chrissy about working out too, that it helps with my mood and that’s my goal – to be alone, to listen to my music and just zone out and exercise. It helps me decompress As for Chrissy being “real” about mom stuff and pregnancy stuff… sure. I prefer that to the Sanctimommy Brigade where everything about pregnancy and motherhood is the most perfect experience ever.
Photos courtesy of Eric Ray Davidson for Good Housekeeping, sent from promotional email.
She is stunning in a very Girl next door way!
If you live next door to supermodels, I guess.
I dont envy emotional eaters.
When I get a bit stressed, certain foods are a comfort.. when I get quite stressed I can’t eat at all… so it can work both ways.
it is honestly terrible. you eat and eat and then after you’ve indulged beyond what is a normal amount of food consumption – you then reel emotionally from what you’ve eaten, how that will impact you and eventually how you look and feel. it is so hard to harness and becomes a cycle of shame that compounds whatever emotional issue that is causing you to eat.
It isnt fun. It took me twenty years to stop binging. I’m not bulimic so I never purged or exercised to “erase” it; I’d just binge to soothe. It was an awful hole to climb out of.
Goodness, she looks extra-gorgeous in all these pics!
I think because she looks really genuinely happy? I don’t like the caked on make up, she doesn’t need it, yet she still looks really beautiful.
I don’t think her makeup looks caked on at all?!
Chrissie, you are not an introvert because you are most comfortable in your home. Who isn’t comfortable in their own home? Secondly, your post baby body is still perfect and something to envy. Im sure she’ll be doing a bathing suit shot sometime soon. I like Chrissie, mostly because of John, but she is not Every Woman even though she aspires to be.
I don’t know, I don’t think that was such a dumb thing to say. I’m an introvert and all the introverts I know are major homebodies. The biggest extroverts I know are, I’m sure, comfortable in their homes, but also seem to love to be out and about and traveling…without the same stresses that I and friends like me tend to get overwhelmed by.
It actually is a sign of introversion.
I think you’ve got it backwards. She’s saying that because she’s an introvert, she’s most comfortable in her own home.
She probably knows whether she’s an introvert or not. And while everyone may be comfortable in their own homes, some people only feel comfortable there, only feel safe there. Many introverts have to put on a good game face to be out and about, to be social, so home can be that spot where they don’t have to do that at all.
Introversion vs. extroversion is about energy. Introverts expend a lot of energy being social and it often means they need a lot of time to recharge. Extroverts gain energy being social, hence why they might be more inclined to be out.
Yes that’s how it is for me. I’m exhausted from being out of my home and being surrounded by people. I don’t commute anymore, but when I did I couldn’t think of going out again once I got home. Getting home is like reaching dry land after a 20 mile swim.
@Kat You are 100% correct. A lot of people don’t understand what introversion and extroversion (and ambiversion) actually mean. I feel like introverts are misunderstood because people think they are antisocial, quiet, hiding something, etc.
@Rosie that is me too.
Thanks for saying this @Kat,Rosie,and Steph.I am a huge introvert,and home is my comfort zone,I could stay home for days without leaving.I also struggle with chronic illness (Crohn’s disease that flares often enough,and the bathroom must always be near).To get up the nerve to do simple things can be exhausting especially when there is both a physical and mental component.Sometimes I think people see me as aloof or standoff-ish,and that’s not me,I’m just an observer I’m always seeming to be on the outside looking in,and that nervous tension shows.I Like that Kat says introverts need to work up the energy to go out,I know I do,and being out is energy zapping.
Strangely I’ve never considered Chrissy an introverted personality,she seems the exact opposite,but perhaps that’s her persona vs true personality…So thanks CB friends sometimes you all are the only people I communicate with for days besides my husband and daughter.💕
YES! I’m an extrovert but for the longest time I didn’t get it because I feel comfortable at home and with books too. However, being around people and socialising energises me and I thrive on it.
This is exactly it. I’m an introvert, but I’m very sociable if I’m in the right circumstances. People who don’t know me very well at first always say I’m either too quiet and they were surprised by out outgoing I could be, or that I was so outgoing that they didn’t know I was capable of being so quiet and shy and somewhat of a homebody. But it’s just that I need to be alone to recoup my energy. It doesn’t mean that I avoid social situations or that I don’t like them at all.
It’s all about how you recharge.
Do you recharge by being social? Extrovert.
Recharge by being home and private? Introvert.
People cross lines of course, and introverts can love friends, and extroverts can love nights in. It’s all in how you recharge though.
yes! everyone thinks I’m an extrovert but I know I’m not. It takes so much of me to be out and socializing. When I’m out, I absolutely am the one to make everyone laugh and crap but I have to talk myself into going every.single.time. and gladly sneak out early.
THIS. I’m already planning my exit from a social event and fantasising about getting home and straight into my trackies before an event has even started. I get along really well with people, and appear extroverted to many people I meet. But the truth is, I find socialising exhausting and stressful, and much prefer to unwind at home.
Just last weekend, I told a white lie to my partner that I couldn’t find a babysitter for our son, simply because I didn’t want to go to the party we were invited to. I had a lovely night in with my kid, playing Beyblades and watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It was bliss!
FHMom – if you ever envy another woman’s body or feel ashamed or negative about your own body, would knowing that other women look at your body and envy you make you feel better? You don’t have to answer because I’ve been around enough women and played the game of “you have such great x I hate my y” enough to know that someone else thinking you are pretty or enviable cannot convince you to love yourself. You have to make that choice on your own and without any comparisons to other people. It sounds like that’s what Chrissy is doing. Choosing to change her mental state to be happy as she is right now and not if/when she attains a certain size.
ETA: I want to say all but i’ll say that MANY women feel self conscious and overly critical about their bodies no matter how big or small they are. I empathize with every single one of them. It’s about what your mind thinks not what you actually look like that determines your love for yourself.
I admit I don’t follow Chrissy super closely, but I find her really refreshing. She’s open (sometimes, yes, too open) and seems very real about her life, her love and her kids. And while she’s clearly an over-sharer, some of the things she’s been super public about are things that need talking about, like post-partum depression, among others.
And, despite the fact that she’s an extremely gorgeous women, I also think she’s spot on about people no longer able to see what real is, when it comes to women’s bodies. It’s something I see, working with college kids, every day. It’s far from just a Hollywood problem. I’ve seen parents (yes, plural) get their 18-20 year old daughters boob jobs to, “increase their confidence.” Girls and boys are growing up seeing surgically enhanced, and then Photoshopped on top of it, bodies as the beauty ideal and it’s hugely dysmorphic and only getting worse.
Yeah, I don’t have kids but I can imagine that her tweets and grams about her kids are a more positive example than the mommy shamers. I remember when she tweeted about Miles getting a helmet to correct his skull shape. The responses became this wonderful thread of people sharing pictures of their babies with their helmets and all the creative ways the parents decorated the helmets. It was really beautiful.
I think it’s great that she’s “extra” about that stuff. It shows that she’s human like the rest of us. She’s the anti-Goop and I love her for it.
Good point. She was open and proud and talked about it like it was no big deal; Probably because it shouldn’t be. She didn’t disappear her boy from social media, or otherwise try and hide it. I used to joke with my friend whose infant had to briefly wear a helmet that I WISHED any of mine had laid still long enough to get a misshapen head. (Noted as a survivor of three kids with various degrees of colicky-ness; one of whom didn’t sleep more than three hours in a row until they were 21 months old 😱)
I find myself liking her against my will.
Me too!
Me too. I find her kind of annoying, but she has been growing on me.
I have several friends who are models and ex models. Trust me when I say, there is rarely a totally healthy relationship with food or “normal” bodies. I’m not saying they have eating disorders, but they are much more critical of themselves. One friend, who stopped modeling years ago, still restricts what she eats as if she is actively persuing jobs. She maintains that very thin frame even though it is just not her “normal” weight at this point in her life. She was one of those very tall, thin teenagers and in her 20s she stayed thin but gained a little weight. So she went from being 5’11” 108 – 110 lbs to about 118 – 120. . Now she’s in her mid 30s and still about 120-125. Actually, as I’m describing her I can think of 2 other friends who are ex models and very similar. Mid 30s and still actively maintaining that very thin look by restricting their diets. My point is I think it will be a long battle for Chrissy to accept her new normal. Models are conditioned to see a certain weight/body type as beautiful and to slide from that weight/shape means less success. It’s sad.
She’s right though. Particularly about forgetting what a body looks like.
This.
Just last week, I was in a shop, trying on jeans, looking at my butt and love handles thinking OMG my body is out of control, when did I get so fat. And then looking at the size label on the jeans and thinking, holy F when did I start thinking a size X (not going to mention my size, because unimportant) is fat? It’s so f’d up, and I’m SO grateful that I managed to catch myself – because its not always the vase.
I used to feel like she was a little extra, but I think in the last few years she’s really come into her own as a cookbook author and lifestyle/mom personality. I know she’s not actually just like me (I don’t get to take killer vacations multiple times a year) but I like a lot of what she has to say about food and being a mom and it’s relatable for me. I’m finally getting my butt in gear to lose the baby weight (my little guy is 9 months old now and I finally had to stop pumping and breastfeeding because work was making it too hard). So I think it helps me to hear that this is a journey and that wherever my body ends up, it’s ok.
I am the same way about my body, it’s overwhelming how different my body is now, after two pregnancies (one debilitating) over the course of 3.5 years. But another thing is also different… I have these two healthy, wonderful children that my body created. It makes me look at my body from a real human standpoint rather than through the filter of what society demands to see in a woman’s body. My skin sags because it was once full of little lives growing. My breasts sag because they fed those babies. My hair is different because my body gave every ounce of itself that it could to the babies. And now my body is a big soft comfy pillow that my babies find so much comfort in. It’s just a really different way of looking at your body, as a woman. I feel more sexual and womanly now than I did when I weighed less and had tight skin and shiny hair! I feel proud of my body for what is has done, not just how it looks.
I was just talking about this. My body has been through hell with pregnancy, a debilitating illness, and after almost two years of working out and eating healthier, I look in the mirror, and I’m happy. Is it perfect??? 😂😂😂 Heck no. I have a pouch and stretch marks and way more curves than society says is acceptable. But I am going to the Bahamas for my ten year anniversary in a few months and I’m just stoked to go hang out on the beach with my husband, stretch marks or not. I just ordered four bathing suits and I can’t wait to try them on and figure out what’s most comfortable for hanging out at Atlantis!
I have been reading less celebrity gossip online, and trying to focus on real life more, and it’s been interesting. I used to think I had to be super slim and perfect to be successful and happy. But I sat in a room of high-profile, super-successful men and women last week in my industry-and they just look normal. One or two are gorgeous and crazy-slim, but most everyone is just neat and normal and professional. It really affirms that you don’t have to wait until you’re “perfect” to do what you want to do. Just… do it.
Yes! Don’t wait for perfection! Live your life now!
I like her using the term *new normal *regarding her body,I like that she admits to weight gain,I still think she’s gorgeous.Pregnancy,illness,aging all of these things contribute to weight changes and why shouldn’t they?I was thinking last December about how my daughter is now 16,and guess what?-She looks like a sixteen year old girl should,nobody says she should look like she did as an infant 16 years ago,that isn’t possible,and if she wasn’t growing and changing physically it would be of serious concern.Here’s the irony- if I still look as I did 16 years ago THAT would be considered a great thing in our culture!We as women are somehow supposed to stop changing as we age-From infancy through childhood and adolescence we are supposed to grow and change and it’s considered normal and beautiful,but when we change as adults that’s “letting ourselves go “And men are allowed to get heavier,gray hair and that’s sophisticated,but a woman who has changed after pregnancy,illness,age,that is somehow not supposed to show,or be applauded if you can manage to not age physically.
Embracing our new normal is hard,it’s taken me a long time,and I still struggle,but I do like myself at 43, scars and all.Good for each and every woman who loves herself in each phase of life!
Lovely article. Not going to lie though, I find it a tad ironic that she says we have forgotten what “regular” bodies look like when she is best friends with the Kardashian/Jenners, all of whom are notoriously plastic. That isn’t meant to be shade towards Chrissy or the Kardashians–both of whom I really enjoy keeping up with!
I had the exact thought. Her friendship with the Koven is the only off-putting thing about her to me. Sure she’s “extra” but I find her funny and honest.
Thankfully she hasn’t gotten a fake butt or other fake things. I hope she stays real-ish
Very good point. Bemoaning the inability to see and appreciate real women while besties with the epicenter of manufactured beauty standards is … Confusing messaging, at best.
Our culture forgot what a real body looks like a long time ago. More specifically, it forgot what acceptance and appreciation of a real body look like. We’ve been watching Masterpiece Theatre’s Inspector Lewis series, and my husband commented that one thing he really likes about it is that the actors look like real, regular people. They’re not surgerized, fluffed, buffed, veneered, air-brushed, and visually distorted beyond reality.
When I first started traveling abroad for work in my early 20s (this was, sadly, 20 years ago), one of the first things I noticed is how normal most of the people on British TV looked. Not coincidentally, I think, I always was a lot more popular on evenings out in the UK vs the US.
How amazing to spend time in a culture where being a regular-looking young woman is ok, and not so infused with warped expectations and impossible standards! I know England gave us Twiggy, Kate Moss, etc., and surely has its fair share of body-image issues, but I feel like the US amped up expectations even higher and built huge businesses around pushing our insecurity buttons.
Yep,I never felt so pretty and like I fit in as when I lived in Sweden,the women are beautiful,but nobody in my circle of friends were stick thin and I,as the American was the one doing my hair and makeup while the other young women were slathering on some moisturizer and lip gloss and running their hands through their hair and they looked so fresh and pretty (ahh twenty years ago for me too),wish I’d have embraced my youthful beauty when I had it,but I’m fine now too.😊
Yes, an ex of mine was from the UK. he wanted me to watch some show that was popular over there, and everyone looked like normal people!
That’s got to be one of my favorite things about British TV. There’s a startling lack of screwing up their faces with fillers and surgery and Botox.
I’ve gained 20 lbs since Trump got elected 😤
I haven’t been my healthiest either. This type of toxicity takes its toll.
Well,you’ll lose about 300,when he’s out 😉
@Spicecake38 LMAO
Me too. My scale is wifi enabled and syncs to an app on my phone — pre-election, my weight had been stable for ages. And then, after November 2016? It spiked upward. I definitely have been numbing myself with food. 🙁
I like her but didn’t realise she was friends with the Kardashian. 😟
She’s so right about how society has no idea what a normal body looks like. Since the prevalance of mass media (movies and TV, and the Internet has put it in turbo mode), what is deemed “beauty” is thinner and more homogenized than ever.
‘Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretchmarks’
Aye!
In general, we should be cautious in generating the idea of a regular body, but frankly, she’s right about it from the perspective of what is actually portrayed in media. What we typically see is an idealized and altered body state created for a performance moment. Are there men and women out there naturally built like models? Sure, but they are a rather small minority. One only needs to look at the rampant drug abuse, ED, and stories of extreme dieting/“detoxing” that come out of the modeling industry to recognize how much of that isn’t representative of reality by any means.
I love what she says about body type. XO Also, her new cookbook, WHOA, the food looks incredible. I recently bought it and I think if I make anything my 16 year old will fall in love with my cooking skills. Jalapeno, parmesan encrusted grilled cheese. It looks insanely yummy and super easy to boot.
It’s the second time i realise that she shaming the Kardashian !