Chrissy Teigen Opens Up After Scathing Criticism By ‘New York Times’ Food Writer: It ‘Hit Me Hard’

New York Times food writer Alison Roman slammed Chrissy Teigen, saying that she was “horrified” by the sort of empire that Teigen has built around her cooking. In response, the cookbook author and model opened up about the criticism, saying that “it hit me hard” and that she has never been “so bummed out by the words of a fellow food-lover.”

Roman did an interview with New Consumer in which she spoke about building her own food empire without selling out. Roman has made a name for herself with her Instagram live cooking and a best-selling cookbook. But now, she says, she wants to make money off her brand without encouraging consumerism — something she says Teigen is doing with her line of Target cookware.

Not one to back down from criticism, Teigen opened up on Twitter in a series of heartfelt messages, explaining that she was hurt by Roman’s comments and adding that she worked hard to build a brand that could separate her from her husband John Legend’s empire.

“It has been crappy to deal with this all day but I couldn’t not say something. I know the actual tears I put into the work I do and it’s really hard to see someone try to completely invalidate it. Someone I really liked,” she wrote.

Teigen explained that she was a fan of Roman’s.

“I genuinely loved everything about Alison. Was jealous she got to have a book with food on the cover instead of a face!! I’ve made countless NYT recipes she’s created, posting along the way,” she tweeted.

The mother of two went on to defend her website, Cravings, saying that she loves working on it and finds it to be a challenge. She explained that she is the voice behind her website.

“[W]e do this work ourselves, and there is NO monetary gain yet. it is just work work work and the reward is you liking it,” she wrote.

Teigen concluded that the two should probably unfollow one another on social media.

Roman replied with an apology for her words and said that she didn’t communicate her sentiment as she intended.

Roman also slammed Marie Kondo, who made the idea of getting rid of anything that didn’t “spark joy” a part of the common parlance. The 34-year-old food writer said that Kondo encouraged people to clean out their lives but at the same time, is selling goods that clutter up people’s homes.