Chrissy Teigen on Raising Black Kids

Chrissy Teigen opens up about raising Black kids with her husband, John Legend, in an interview for the fall issue of Marie Claire.

  • In an interview for the fall issue of Marie ClaireChrissy Teigen opens up about raising Black kids with her husband, John Legend
  • "When it comes to them being treated differently because of the color of their skin, I’m going to look to John for a lot of help with that because while they are Asian and white too, their skin color is Black," she says.
  • Teigen and Legend's approach is to talk to their kids, Luna and Miles, like "little adults" and to encourage them to ask any questions they have.

Chrissy Teigen is famous for a lot of things. She's a model, a best-selling cookbook author, an amazing host/TV judge (thanks, Quibi), but to fans who follow her online (and there are 43 million of them across Instagram and Twitter), she's just as famous for being amazingly outspoken and an amazing mom. Balancing those last two hasn't been the easiest lately, though.

In an interview for Marie Claire's fall cover story, the model and mother of two revealed that she recently cut back on social media at the suggestion of her therapist, who she started seeing during quarantine. Even though the break has been good for her mental health, Teigen feels conflicted about it.

"Part of me right now knows this is not the right time to go silent," she says. "It does feel very selfish and weird to say that my mental health is important when there are people being murdered by police and murdered in their own homes. Who gives a fuck about someone making fun of me when people’s livelihoods are being threatened just for telling their stories? I have Black children, so is it really the right time to not want to step on anyone’s toes?"

Teigen says she's read books about having difficult conversations with your kids and discussing traumatic situations, but raising Black children is something no book could have prepared her for. Instead, she looks to her husband, John Legend, to take the lead.

"Regardless of money or status, they’re always going to have their skin color," she says. "When it comes to them being treated differently because of the color of their skin, I’m going to look to John for a lot of help with that because while they are Asian and white too, their skin color is Black. We just try to talk to them like little adults, saying it in words they’ll understand, making it known that it’s very serious, and letting them ask as many questions as they need."

Read the rest of Teigen's in-depth interview here.

Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.