15 months on from Caroline Flack’s death, we should be worried about Chrissy Teigen.

This story talks about suicide and might be triggering to some readers.

It would be easy to join the Chrissy Teigen pile-on right now.

In the past couple of weeks she’s gone from one of the most beloved queens of social media to the butt of jokes on Saturday Night Live.

On the latest episode of the legendary American comedy show, Pete Davidson ripped into the model and TV presenter. 

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“If there’s one good thing about the pandemic, besides getting Chrissy Teigen out of our lives, it’s ...” Davidson said, before the audience started laughing. 

“I’m relieved,” he added.

It all started with an interview with reality star Courtney Stodden in the Daily Beast. Stodden revealed that they had experienced “harassment and bullying” from Teigen when they were a teenager, saying that Teigen would “privately DM me and tell me to kill myself".

Teigen apologised on Twitter. 

"I'm mortified and sad at who I used to be,” she said. “I was an insecure, attention-seeking troll.”

That was just the beginning. Other tweets of Teigen’s were dug up, including one about singer Avril Lavigne from 2011(“If u told me I could have 1 kid, but it would be exactly like Avril, I would choose to have a barren, sterile existence that ends when I die”) and another about actress Lindsay Lohan from the same year (“Lindsay adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees Emma Stone”). 

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Conservative commentator Candace Owens got stuck into Teigen, calling her “deranged”, and asking, "How is she not beyond cancelled by now?"

Owens also tagged Target, asking the retail chain why they were stocking Teigen’s cookware line.

Some retailers now appear to be distancing themselves from Teigen. 

When Macy’s removed her cookware from their website, Owens tweeted about it triumphantly. 

"Thank you @Macys for doing the right thing. Teenage suicide is not a joke." 

Teen Mom’s Farrah Abraham called Teigen “a serial predator... a lot like in rape culture”, while Real Housewives of Orange County’s Kelly Dodd also slammed her, commenting, “Karma is a bitch.”

As for Teigen, she’s gone quiet on social media. 

Her last tweet was her apology to Stodden on May 13 that finished with, “And I am so sorry I let you guys down. I will forever work on being better than I was 10 years ago, 1 year ago, 6 months ago.”

And I am so sorry I let you guys down. I will forever work on being better than I was 10 years ago, 1 year ago, 6 months ago.

— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 12, 2021

Her silence is worrying. Sure, Teigen said some terrible things 10 years ago, and even more recently. 

She’s the first one to admit that. She was an “insecure, attention-seeking troll”. She hurt people. 

But Teigen has been through a lot since then. Last September she and her husband, singer John Legend, lost their unborn son Jack. 

In November, Teigen admitted on Twitter that she was “honestly in a bit of a grief depression hole”. She told People that the difficult pregnancy and the loss of her son gave her a new perspective. 

"I love to clap back, as they say. I love to get someone back for saying something nasty to me, but I think through this I've gained a point of empathy where I can actually understand that [people] might have some s*** going on themselves. I think it's never a bad thing to learn to be a better, kinder person."

Even before losing Jack, Teigen had struggled with her mental health, revealing she suffered postnatal depression and anxiety after the birth of her daughter Luna. 

She’s also been open about her struggles with addiction, explaining in December last year that she’d made the decision to give up alcohol. 

“I was done with making an ass of myself in front of people (I’m still embarrassed), tired of day drinking and feeling like shit by 6, not being able to sleep,” she said on her Instagram Stories.

To join the Teigen pile-on now –to make jokes about her, to hurt her, like she’s hurt other people –would be easy, but it would be dangerous.

We’ve seen what can happen when the media turn on a public figure. It was just last year that Love Island host Caroline Flack was found dead in her London flat, having taken her own life. 

She was set to face trial over assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, a charge she denied.

"I find the reason for her taking her life was she now knew she was being prosecuted for certainty, and she knew she would face the media, press, publicity -it would all come down upon her,” coroner Mary Hassell found in an inquest.

Her death was a terrible reminder that celebrities are just as vulnerable as anyone else. 

Teigen has made it very clear over the past year just how vulnerable she is.  

One of Flack’s last posts on Instagram was: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

That’s not too different from Teigen’s comment: “It’s never a bad thing to learn to be a better, kinder person.”

Instead of cancelling Teigen, maybe we could allow her to learn from her mistakes, and we could all do the same. 

If you think you may be experiencing depression or another mental health problem, please contact your general practitioner. If you're based in Australia, 24-hour support is available through Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue on 1300 22 4636.

Feature Image: Getty.

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