Courtney Stodden responds to Chrissy Teigen’s “cancel club” comments

Famously outspoken, especially on Twitter, Chrissy Teigen has long been a favourite with the online world. Not one to sugarcoat her views, she rarely bites her tongue, and people love her for it. 

The scandal

Sidestepping quite a few scandals over the years, Chrissy has narrowly avoided disaster on more occasions than one but she hasn’t been so lucky this time as Twitter officially turned on her in the wake of bullying allegations Courtney Stodden made against her. According to Stodden (who is nonbinary), Teigen was amongst one of their most vocal online abusers. Sending the then 16-year-old a torrent of abuse, the former model even went so far as to say “I can’t wait for you to die”. 

Thrust into the limelight in 2011 at the tender age of 16, Courtney rose to fame after marrying 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. Only recently finalising their divorce to Hutchison (divorce proceedings began in 2018 and continued until March 2020), Stodden has done some serious “soul-searching” since then – a largely inescapable side-effect of lockdown and spending so much time alone. 

Shocking the world with an interview they gave to the Daily Beast just last month, Courtney didn’t hold back when it came to detailing what exactly they went through. A relationship that was not well-received by the public, they were subject to a constant stream of abuse on the topic – perhaps most surprisingly, from other celebrities. 

Commenting that they have “a lot of trauma” from that time in their life, Stodden said that some of the worst treatment they got was from women. “She (Teigen) wouldn’t just publicly tweet about wanting me to take a ‘dirt nap’ but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself. Things like, ‘I can’t wait for you to die’. 

“And not only her… people came out of the woodwork to beat up on a kid because she was in a situation that she shouldn’t have been in. There were a lot of celebrities acting like playground bullies.”

Asked whether any of the celebrities who shamed them ever apologised for their actions, Courtney said that Perez Hilton was the only one to stand up and be kind. “They have not sought to apologise or sent any kind of love my way. The majority of love and apologies have come from reporters and also people online who tell me that they appreciate me and love me, and that I’m a source of strength for them. And that means everything to me.”

Only recently back on Twitter herself, Teigen took a break from the platform due to her own negative experiences with the online world. Choosing to take a step back as she was left “deeply bruised” by her interactions with others, her hiatus was short-lived and a few weeks later she returned proclaiming that she has decided to “take the bad with the good”. 

The apology

Chrissy later addressed Stodden’s accusations, admitting that she “was a troll” and saying that she is “ashamed” of her past behaviour. Questioning how she could ever have done such a thing in the first place, Teigen went on to say that she was “so sorry” for the hurt she caused. That was back on June 14. Teigen addressed the situation once again last week, taking to Instagram to share her thoughts on “cancel club”. 

“I feel lost and need to find my place again, I need to snap out of this, I desperately wanna communicate with you guys instead of pretending everything is okay. I’m not used to any other way,” she wrote. Going on to address the whole cancel culture debacle, Teigen continued by saying, “Cancel club is a fascinating thing and I have learned a whollllle lot. Only a few understand it and it’s impossible to know til you’re in it. And it’s hard to talk about it in that sense because obviously you sound whiney when you’ve clearly done something wrong. It just sucks. There is no winning.”

Unsurprisingly, her comments didn’t go over well with Twitter or the internet at large and many people found fault with her statement – rightly pointing out that she is in a web of her own making and it’s hard to feel any sympathy for her as such. 

The clapback

Since responding, or at least appearing to respond to the post (Teigen was never actually referenced by name), Stodden tweeted a screenshot of a private apology they received from another famous face – American Pie’s Jason Biggs. 

“This is what a personal apology looks like,” Stodden captioned the photo. “Everyone makes mistakes but not everyone takes real accountability. Jason, I felt this. I wish you love and immense success to you and your family.”

This is what a personal apology looks like. Everyone makes mistakes but not everyone takes real accountability. Jason, I felt this. I wish you love and immense success to you and your family @JasonBiggs pic.twitter.com/uxpI7gYHFu

— Courtney Stodden (@CourtneyStodden) July 15, 2021

As for Jason’s message to Stodden? It reads, “I wanted to drop you a note to say that I’m sorry for any tweet that I made in the past that may have hurt your feelings. They were meant as jokes — but they were at your expense, and knowing how you feel, that makes them not funny at all.

“I am trying my best these days to live a clean and sober life, one in which I make good and healthy decisions — and that means taking accountability for the bad decisions I’ve made in the past,” he continued. “I wish you nothing but the best and happiness and success always.”

It’s unclear which tweets the actor references in his apology but either way, Courtney seems to have accepted his apology. Biggs may be off the hook, but it doesn’t look like Teigen is – the proof being in the form of a recent TikTok Stodden posted online.

@courtneyastodden

Just be nice ? #fyp #fyp? #bully #bekind #mentalhealth #chrissyteigen

? original sound – CourtneyStodden

Using the green screen filter to share a number of different headlines about the post, Stodden opted for a laughing track audio, finishing the video by pointing to an image that reads “just be nice”… which kind of says it all, doesn’t it? 

Feature image via @courtneyastodden